Genesis 2 The Amulet of Artemis
by SpencerandHotchlover
Summary: Sequel to Genesis. Jasper and Bella run across an ancient Greek shrine and are some how drawn into fixing it and when they finish the Goddess Artemis who gives them a magical amulet in thanks and tells them it will allow them to have children naturally. Bella and Jasper try it out and find out it works and this is how the Whitlock family began.


Genesis 2

The Amulet of Artemis

April 24, 1950

"So where too?" asked Bella looking at her guide book. It was 1950 and the two of them were in Greece exploring the country having just bought a plane now that the technology had advanced enough that they were a little safer. It was only a two passenger, but then they didn't really need anything bigger. Jasper had learned how to fly it at vampire speed as had Bella and Jasper had been able to produce fake pilot licenses that should pass all inspections.

"It doesn't really matter to me," Jasper told her.

"Why don't we really explore and not just all the tourist sites, but really out of the way places?" Bella suggested. "We didn't just come here to see the sites that every tourist sees. Of course I want to see those to, but also really explore and discover really out-of-the-way spots that not many people if any find because they aren't willing to leave the cities or go off the beaten path."

"Feeling adventurous are we?" asked Jasper teasingly although he was partly serious as well because he enjoyed finding very unusual sites along with his mate.

"What can I say except that why should we go to sites that millions of tourists go to every year when we can literally explore this wild country?" asked Bella with a shrug not taking offense at her mate's teasing. "It isn't like we have to worry about being attacked by animals and being killed since our skin after all is impenetrable. I know that if I was still human I would be very leery of going off the beaten path afraid of being killed and eaten by a wild animal or something else, but since I'm not human anymore I don't see why we shouldn't really explore."

"Alright then that is what we will do," Jasper agreed easily as he enjoyed going off the beaten path and finding out of the way spots just as much as his mate did. "Let us just make sure that we get us a good meal first just in case we don't find any humans on our adventure."

"Good idea," Bella agreed. "Oh boy this is going to be fun I can hardly wait. Of course, anytime alone with you is always fun when we aren't surrounded by all the humans."

"I totally agree with that statement," Jasper said as he took his mate into his arms and gave her a passionate kiss where his tongue demanded entrance to her mouth.

Bella's and Jasper's tongue battled for dominance for a few minutes before they finally broke off the kiss.

"I love you, Jasper, I don't think I tell you that nearly often enough," Bella told the love of her life.

"I love you too, but I have to disagree about you telling me how much you love me. Your emotions and actions tell me of your feelings every day even if you don't say the words. Besides if we say I love you too often, like more than 50 times a day it will grow stale, don't you know?" Jasper added jokingly.  
Bella giggled just as Jasper had hoped she would. "Besides," he added more seriously. "You do tell me you love me every day and most of the time several times a day just like I tell you. Without you in my life I was adrift not really living my life, but more of a bystander then an active participant."  
"You are my life," Bella told him kissing him rather seriously.

"And you are mine," Jasper assured her as soon as they had broken the kiss.

"So shall we go and get ourselves some dinner, my mate?" asked Jasper with a smirk already knowing her answer.

"You bet," Bella said looking eager. "Our only problem seems to be that there doesn't seem to be a really bad section of town not like in most cities anyway. Athens has got to be one of the cleanest places I have ever seen, in fact I know it is," Bella corrected herself. "All the buildings I have seen look so clean you can probably eat off the stone they are made of. Also all the buildings I have seen look extremely well-maintained and well-kept."  
"Yes I noticed that as well," Jasper agreed. "The buildings are certainly better maintained then all the cities I have seen in the States, because there some of the buildings are in a very good well-maintained condition while certain sections of the city are very poorly maintained and starting to fall apart."

"Which is where most of the criminal population goes to and where we hunt most often," said Bella.

Bella actually had nothing against hunting regular hardworking people and not just criminals and she and Jasper did that quite often, although they did mostly hunt people that wouldn't be noticed if they disappeared.

"Let's get going. The sooner we get ourselves fed the sooner we can really start exploring," said Bella her excitement almost palatable.

"Whatever you want," Jasper said taking his mate's hand and leading her out the door.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

Jasper and Bella pushed their way through a very thick undergrowth not even needing machetes as none of the thorns on the vines or sharp branches of the trees could penetrate their skin though they did rip the hiking clothes they were wearing.

"Man this is some thick forest. There isn't much of a path, which tells me that not many if any people ever come here," Bella said not panting or sweating because as a vampire she didn't need to do either of these things.

"There also isn't any human scent, not even a faint trace, which means you are correct and no humans have been in this area for a very long time. Probably years at least, if not decades."

"I wonder why?" Bella mused. "I'm assuming that the Greeks like to go hiking or exploring just like other people all over the world, so it is kind of strange that this part of the forest is undisturbed."

"Sacred?" Jasper suggested.

"You think that the Greeks consider this forest as sacred or at least this part of it? I suppose that's possible," Bella mused.

"Or maybe this place is considered haunted?" Jasper suggested with a wicked grin.

"Ghosts, Jasper? You believe in ghost?" asked Bella laughing hysterically.

Jasper shrugged reveling in the sound of his mate's happy laughter. "I don't necessarily believe in ghosts, but I figure if vampires are real that there are more things in heaven and Earth then are dreamt of in our philosophy."

"Way to misquote Shakespeare," Bella giggled.

"It isn't that much of a misquote," Jasper protested laughingly as he continued to push his way though the very thick and tangled forest. "A couple of words is all."

"If you say so," Bella teased.

"I do say so," Jasper teased right back.

Bella didn't reply verbally just rolled her eyes.

Silence fell between them as they continued pushing their way to the thick undergrowth until finally they broke out of the tree into a large clearing.

"Well at least we're finally out of that undergrowth," Bella said looking around the clearing that was just like any other she had to seen over the years, except for the fact the trees were enormous and much bigger then any other forest she had been on over the last twenty years. Also at one end of the clearing was what might have once been a marble altar, although it was covered in moss and brambles and one corner missing and looked like it had been worn away by time.

"Do you think this was Altar of the shrines to the old Greek Gods of Olympus?" asked Bella eagerly as she went closer in order to examine it.

"Probably," Jasper agreed nodding.

"Maybe we should clear it off at least," Bella suggested. "I know there's nothing we can do about the corner that has worn away but we can at least clear off the brambles and clean off the moss."

"Yes, it does seem disrespectful that it has been allowed to become so rundown," Jasper agreed feeling almost compelled by some outside force to clean off the altar.

Bella and Jasper approached the altar and the first thing they did was start removing the brambles from the altar and throwing them off to the side. There was even one place where a tree limb had fallen across the center of it and had created a crack that zigzagged down the middle.

"Well there's nothing we can do about the crack," Jasper said as he picked up the tree limb easily and threw into the woods.

"No, which is a shame since this altar is made out of a very fine white marble and was once very beautiful."

"Thank you for cleaning up my shrine," said an unknown female voice in heavily accented English. "No one has been here for hundreds of years and my shrine gradually became like you saw it."

Jasper and Bella whirled around to see a beautiful woman with long flowing brown hair wearing some kind of helmet and also armor.

"Who are you?" asked Jasper trying to contain his astonishment that he had not heard or even smelled her approach.

"I am Artemis, goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth and virginity and this is my altar you have just cleaned off from centuries of neglect. I wanted to thank you for you are the first people I have seen in this part of the forest for centuries."

"You're welcome," Bella said speaking for the first time.

"May I know the names of the two people who have helped me?" ask Artemis.

"I am Jasper Whitlock and this is my wife Bella."

Artemis tilted her head detecting the lie about Bella being a Jasper's wife but willing to let it go for the moment when she saw how deep the bond between them ran.

"What are you? Not only are you not Greek, you aren't human at all?" asked Artemis.

Bella and Jasper looked to each other and seemed to be conferring silently and then Bella turned and faced the goddess answering, "We my lady, are vampires."

"Vampires now there is a word I am not familiar with what exactly does it mean?" asked Artemis.

"Vampires are technically no longer alive," Jasper explained. "All our organs are stopped, we do not age from the time of our change, we do not need to sleep, our skin is all but impenetrable and we are faster, stronger, smarter then any human."

"And what is it you precisely eat, since all your organs are at a standstill or do you eat at all?" asked Artemis.

"We don't precisely eat," Bella explained. "We drink blood actually."

"Blood?" asked Artemis her astonishment plain. "You drink blood?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Jasper said. "Our stomachs and organs cannot process any other substance."

"How do you get this blood you have to drink?" asked Artemis just a little curious.

"We hunt humans and then bite into a vein to drain their blood usually the neck," Bella explained. "Humans cannot fight us as we are so much stronger, faster and more indestructible than they are. In other words we are top of the food chain as not much at all can hurt us and other lifeforms are very fragile in comparison."

"So you kill humans in order to feed yourselves," Artemis said.

"Yes," Jasper told her.

"And since your organs are stopped that means that you cannot reproduce?" Artemis said her words not really a question.

"I'm afraid so," Bella said as a spasm of pain crossed her face.

Artemis saw the pain that crossed both Jasper and Bella's faces and was able to guess that both wanted children, but were unable to have them due to being vampires, a state neither of them had asked for.

"I think I can help you with your dilemma," Artemis said. "I am the goddess of childbirth after all."

"What do you mean?" asked Jasper not daring to hope.

"I mean as my way of thanking you for restoring my shrine as much as you were able I can enable you to have children."

"You can?" asked Bella her expression hopeful.

"I can and all I ask in return is that you sacrifice a lamb or a goat once a year."

"We do not live in Greece, ma'am," Bella answered, "and in fact we move around fairly often for obvious reasons."

"Well then so long as you always honor me then I will enable you to have children."

"We will do so," Jasper promised. "Bella I have always wanted a family, but I knew we could never have one thanks to being what we are."

"Also I will officially marry you in the old way as I know you are not really married even though that is what you tell people thanks to the social stigmas of the day."

"That would be more than fine with us," Bella said after looking at Jasper who nodded. "We just never thought we could find a priest to actually marry us so we just never got married. Most of our species doesn't actually when they find someone to spend their centuries with."

"Very well then," Artemis said producing what looked like a scarf that she tied around their wrists and then said a few words in very ancient Greek that neither Jasper or Bella understood.

There was a flash of light and the scarf disintegrated leaving Jasper and Bella's wrists free. "There you are. You are officially married in the old way and nothing should be able to break the bond."

"Thank you," Jasper told Artemis sincerely.

"You're welcome," Artemis replied. "Now I am going to give you an amulet that should allow you to have children. As long as you, Bella wear it around your neck whenever you are making love it should be able to restart your organs temporarily in order for you to be able to produce offspring."

"Will Bella need regular human food whenever she is pregnant?" asked Jasper. "Restarting her organs means she has to eat regular human food along with blood."

"Yes, she will need to eat a certain amount of human food and also drink milk for the baby or babies you will have. Once the babies are born her organs will go back to normal until you put on the necklace again.

"Once our children are born will they be able to eat human food or will it just be blood that they will need?" asked Bella.

"They will need blood, but they will also need milk and once they are full grown they will stop aging completely. I'm not actually sure what kind of hybrid you will produce or if they will be full vampires or if they will be able to eat human food or if they will only be able to drink blood as the future is hard to see. Also be warned that any pregnancy will go much faster than a human one because of the vampire genes or at least this what it looks like from the glimpses I am getting of the future."

"We'll figure it out," Bella said unable to contain her excitement. "Thank you for this opportunity," she added sincerely. "I never thought that I would be able to have children with a man I truly and deeply love thanks to what we are."

"You are most welcome," Artemis assured the couple. "You cleaned my shrine when you didn't have to do so and for that I thank you. Such goodness and thoughtfulness should be rewarded," said Artemis then removing an amulet in the shape of a crescent moon from around her neck and handing it to Bella who took it.

"This amulet will only work for you and those you trust absolutely otherwise it will cause great pain to anybody who touches it in order to take it from you. Also it cannot be stolen as the further away someone gets with the necklace in their possession the more pain they will be in until it is returned to you."

"That is a wise precaution if you know anything about the Volturi," said Jasper.

"I have caught glimpses of them, but nothing more, something seems to have obscured my visions where they are concerned. What I have seen is not exactly encouraging and so it would be wise to put off a confrontation with them for as long as you can."

"I don't plan to confront then it all if I can help it," Jasper said, "although I know that that is not really possible and we can only avoid the inevitable for so long."

"There will be a confrontation sometime in the future although I cannot tell exactly when," said Artemis her eyes distant.

"We will handle it when the time comes," Jasper said. "I have just one question for you and then we will go into town to see if we can purchase some white marble to replace what is broken and damaged."

"What is your question, Jasper Whitlock?" Artemis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Will getting Bella pregnant possibly kill her as often happens in human pregnancies? If you answer this question for me then we will restore your altar to as pristine as it once was."

Artemis looked thoughtful as her eyes grew distant again.

"You see I cannot loose her as it would kill me quite literally. Once a vampire finds a mate if one dies the other always follows as they are soulmates, two halves of the same soul and even though I want a family it is not worth losing Bella for."

"From what I can see of the future your wife should be fine after each of her pregnancies. You will have more than one baby each time but she will be well just hours after giving birth."

"Thank you," Jasper said sincerely, "we will return to restore your shrine to its original state."

"Thank you," said Artemis. "In return for your restoring of my shrine I will tell you that you and your wife will have a very large family even by Greek standards. I see at least a dozen children if not more in your future."

"A dozen?" asked Bella astonishment never having imagined herself having such a large family. She had always dreamed of having three or four little ones or half a dozen at the most, but to have dozen or more was a dream come true for her and for Jasper as well.

"At least and possibly more," Artemis told her. "It is hard to see the future as it is often cloudy so it is almost impossible to be absolutely sure how many children you will have."

"It is not a talent I'd like to have to be a will to see the future," Bella said, "no offense meant but it seems like it would be more of a burden then a help."

"It can be," Artemis agreed. "Now I'll bid you goodbye. Perhaps we'll meet again sometime in the future." With those words the woman that was goddess Artemis disappeared as if she had never existed it all without a sound or dramatic flash of light.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"So shall we try out the necklace that the goddess Artemis gave us?" asked Jasper as soon as they were back in their hotel room. It was just hours later and the two of them were back in their hotel room.

"Yes," Bella said eagerly putting the necklace around her neck, "but let's be careful not to destroy it though as it probably won't have any power if we bend it or break it."

"We'll be careful and once we are sure that you are indeed pregnant we will remove the necklace so that you can't get pregnant again as I have read somewhere that a lot of multiple births are not true twins or triplets, but due to the fact of getting a woman pregnant more then once within the period of her menstrual cycle. Normally a woman is fertile anywhere between five to seven days and she can get pregnant more then once in that time period," Jasper said.

"Where do you learn all this stuff?" asked Bella rhetorically. "In any case let's see if it even works before we think about anything else, shall we?" Bella suggested also with a deep passionate yearning in her voice. She had been an only child and she had always wanted brothers and sisters or at least that is what she remembered although the memories were hazy and indistinct.

"Let's get started then, shall we?" Jasper suggested taking his wife into his arms helping her to strip of her clothing, while she did the same for him and then they met in the center of the king sized bed totally naked.

"I love you so much," Bella told Jasper softly as Jasper started to to kiss her all over her body. "I never thought I would find a man I love enough to marry or one that would want to marry me, since it was unlikely I would be able to give him children thanks to that fever I had as a child.

"I love you to, so much," Jasper said before he continued to kiss and run his hands gently up and down the slimly muscular body of his sexy and beautiful mate. "You have given my life meaning and purpose, when before I met you I was so lonely even though I didn't realize I was."

The two of them continued kiss even as Jasper used one of his hands to fondle one of his mate's breasts and the other to stick a finger into his her pussy to rub the little nub called the clit, which caused Bella to scream, "Jasper!" and buck halfway off the bed.

It never took very long for either one of them to climax unless they worked to prolong their pleasure, but even after being mated twenty years that was often not possible as their feelings for each other were often to strong. At least part of the reason this was so, was that Jasper was an empath and the only time he ever lost control of his talent was when he was in the throes of passion. Also they had discovered more then a decade ago that Bella was an amplifier, which was a talent that made other vampire talents all the stronger and like Jasper she had learned that the only time she ever lost control of her talent was when she and Jasper were making love.

"Please, Jasper, please!" Bella begged. Bella was reaching her climax rapidly and felt as if her entire body was on fire and all tingling at the same time, which always happened every time they fucked each other.

Jasper covered Bella's mouth with his own and at the same time rammed the general into Bella's pussy.

"You are so tight, so wet and slick," Jasper groaned in pleasure as he slid the general in and out of his mate's pussy, before finally releasing his seed into his mate's body.

During all this Jasper had made sure to be extremely careful of the necklace as he did not want to damage it as not only would that ruin their chances of ever having a child of their own it might bring down Artemis's wrath on them and they didn't want that.

It was true the necklace was gold, but vampires were also exceptionally strong and Jasper could have crushed or bent with no trouble if he didn't watch what he was doing. Besides gold was an exceptionally soft metal in any case which is why it was mixed with other metals to make it not as easy to bend or twist out of shape. That was by humans through who were very weak by vampire standards and if humans could bend say a gold ring out of shape it would be no trouble for a vampire.

Jasper purred long and loud as he climaxed so strongly that he was still spurting several minutes later.

Bella moaned holding tight to Jasper's hair as her climax ripped through her as soon as Jasper's seed hit her pussy and she continued to moan as Jasper's climax also ripped through him at almost the exact same time.

"Damn!" Bella exclaimed, when her climax had finally subsided some minutes later.

"Yes, damn," Jasper agreed as he stroked a hand through Bella's hair tenderly. Jasper didn't care in the least if his mate cussed although he knew that the conventions of modern society said that a woman shouldn't cuss as it was improper, but modern society be damned as certain prominent people also said that a woman did not enjoy having sex and only did it for the sake of having children, which was a load of crap as Jasper knew from experience that women did indeed enjoy making love and quite often initiated it. Jasper also knew that if those people ever found out that some women enjoyed making love they would be called hoydens at the very least and likely worse things then that. Powerful men who said that women didn't enjoy having sex and only did it for the sake of having children didn't like to be proven wrong and so those men would go out of their way to denounce those females.

Bella certainly did and Jasper certainly didn't mind when Bella jumped his bones as the saying went, but he knew that a lot of men did mind and expected the woman to not really participate in the sexual act, but Jasper was one of those men that enjoyed it when a woman participated in the lovemaking process as to him anyway it seemed like it would be much, much more enjoyable if both the man and woman enjoyed themselves instead of just the man and over the last twenty years he had been proven right. He had never enjoyed the sexual act so much until he had met Bella and made love to her for the first time after that he knew that he had met his match when it came to enjoying making love, because Bella enjoyed it just as much and participated enthusiastically and completely from the first and certainly didn't lay there unmoving like a corpse while Jasper made love to her.

Some humans, mostly men, but some women would consider Bella an aberration for enjoying sex at all, which was just stupid in Jasper's opinion, not that it mattered in the least.

"So how are we going to tell if I'm pregnant? It's not like we'll be able to tell by normal means as I doubt very much I'll have morning sickness."

"We'll just have to see, as this is something like an experiment," Jasper said patting her belly. "I'm trying not to get my hopes up actually as a couple of vampires have never had a child in the thousands of years that our species has been in existence and it would be a major miracle if it happened now."

"You know we will have to watch these children constantly if we have one. We will be into entirely new territory as Artemis said that the babies growth will be accelerated. At least we know that the babies will need milk, as well as blood once they are born so at least those are two questions we will not have to worry about answering, which in a way is reassuring."

"These are all concerns for another time, but let's not worry about it unless we actually managed to get you pregnant," Jasper suggested.

"I'll try not to," Bella promised. "I can't promise to succeed though."

"Why don't I distract you then?" Jasper suggested with a wicked grin already hard and ready to be buried in his mate's body again.

"Why don't you?" Bella said with a wicked grin of her own perfectly happy to let Jasper distract her in his usual way.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

More than twelve hours later Bella and Jasper both lay back finally sated, the necklace of Artemis still gleaming from around Bella's white throat as her skin was completely white without color, but then this was perfectly natural when you were a vampire since their species didn't have any blood in their bodies to give their skin it's color. A vampire's skin was also ice cold if touched by a human, but to each other it just felt normal. The two vampires had been making love for hours without stopping, which was one of the great benefits of not having to sleep, eat, use the bathroom or any other things that a human would need to do from time to time.

Both lay there silently just enjoying the others company with Jasper's head placed between his mate's breast, which was a favorite position of his and Bella, of course, enjoyed feeling Jasper's skin against hers as it was very sensual.

Suddenly their contented silence was interrupted as both suddenly felt something kick Bella from the inside out.

"Could that be..." Bella paused not daring to hope

"The kick of a baby?" asked Jasper with hope in his voice. "I don't know what else it could be."

"But isn't it to soon for the baby to be active? Doesn't that usually take place at about the fourth or fifth month stage?"

"We are into new territory," Jasper reminded his mate his red eyes joyful. "If this was a human baby, yes it would impossible, but these are completely vampire babies, which is why we do not detect any heartbeat and why we are already feeling the babies kicking. Remember what Artemis said. Besides look at your stomach, it is already quite engorged and I am astonished that we didn't notice until the baby kicked."

"Yes, I remember and I see what you mean," Bella said looking down at her stomach seeing that she was already quite large and looked as if she was already at least two or three months pregnant instead of just a few hours, some of her worries fading as she did indeed remember Artemis's words about how the pregnancy would advance rapidly and that he would give birth much, much sooner then a human. "We're going to have a baby!" Bella exclaimed excitedly. "A baby! I never thought in a million years that it would actually happen!"

"Keep your voice down, love," Jasper told her kissing her gently in order to stop Bella from talking. "We do not want the whole hotel to hear us and in fact it would be better if no one knew except us that you were pregnant at all."

Bella calmed down at that as she knew Jasper was right. One thing neither of them wanted was the Volturi finding out as that would be disastrous.

"So if the baby's kicking now does that mean I look about 4 or 5 months along and I'll have the baby in a month or two instead of the usual nine?"

"I don't know but we need to go somewhere remote since we know you are going to have this baby much sooner than a human woman would. Also you need to take it easy as we have no idea how the birth is going to take place and whether it'll happen totally naturally or not, although I'm guessing it will since your internal organs are working naturally and will be until after you give birth."

"You're right," Bella agreed after thinking about it for a few minutes. "We need to take it easy until we know how it works. If I was a human I wouldn't give birth for a long time and it would happen totally naturally, but as you just said we are in totally new territory as a vampire has never gotten pregnant that we know about anyway."

"Also I think that once we get to a place that is as remote as possible and find a place to settle down for awhile that I should start bringing you your meals as I don't think you need to be out hunting in your condition. Consider it a safety precaution as neither one of us wants to lose these babies."

"No I will not agree to that unless I absolutely have to," said Bella.  
"Bella, we don't want to lose these children you are carrying by doing something rash," Jasper almost pleaded.

"And if I have to stay confined I will very likely do something rash out of sheer boredom," Bella argued.

Jasper sighed and gave in knowing Bella was right as no one liked being confined. "All right, just promise me to be careful and don't go anywhere without me with you, you can at least agree to that can't you?"

"Yes, that I can agree to," Bella said rubbing Jasper's arm soothingly.

"We should invite Peter and Charlotte to visit to help out just in case I am confined to the house at some point. Besides I am sure that Charlotte would love to have children on her own and Artemis did say that the necklace would work for anybody we trusted completely and the only two vampires that fit that bill at the moment are your brother and sister."

"Let's get these babies born first and all grown up before we consider letting Peter and Charlotte have children of their own. If all goes as well as we expect it to we will loan Peter and Charlotte the necklace and maybe by that time you will be pregnant again to."

"You're right," Bella said. "let's not get ahead of ourselves as this is something in the nature of an experiment."

"Exactly," Jasper said. "I do think it is a good idea to invite Peter and Charlotte down for a visit though and so that is what we will do. They will be excited for you and the success of this experiment as that would mean that they could have children of their own, which I know both want."

Bella knew that too so she hoped this experiment was a success.

"On second thought do we really want Peter and Charlotte knowing about this?" ask Bella. "It's not that I don't trust them," she added when she saw the look on Jasper's face, "but we're still not sure..."

"You believe Charlotte and Peter will be jealous that you are having a child and they aren't." Jasper said finally understanding as he read Bella's emotions.

"That's certainly part of it," Bella admitted. "I know that Charlotte has always wanted a child, but thanks to her being a vampire she's never been able to have one. Besides I was also thinking that they wouldn't be protected from the Volturi if they ever discover this but we are to a certain extent just because of your reputation."

"You do have a point," Jasper admitted finally seeing Bella's point of view, "but on the other hand we need help and they are the only two I would trust to help us and that wouldn't betray us and we need help as you're right someone needs to be with you all the time, just to be safe no matter where you go. I would request that you keep your outings to a minimum until after the babies are born. Keep it to things like hunting and in fact I would prefer that was the only outing you took for the time being."

"Alright," Bella finally agreed knowing that Jasper was right. "Now how do we go about finding a house outside of the city?"

"Just like we always do we go to a realtor once we decide what city we want to settle down on the outskirts of," Jasper said.

"We'll do that as soon as we decide where we want to settle," Bella said looking at the clock seeing it was 4 a.m. in the morning. "I don't think need to worry about that right this minute though as it is the middle of the night."

"What shall we do until then?" asked Jasper with a smile knowing exactly what Bella's answer would be.

"Why fuck each other, of course," Bella smirked right back stating it as if it should be obvious.

"It will be a pleasure, I assure you," Jasper said huskily his desire already beginning to rise.

"I think this time I'll fuck you, so hard you won't know what day it is," Bella said.

"Feel free to, I'm certainly not going to try and stop you as I always love what you do to me."

"I know it," Bella said as she started by kissing Jasper's nose. "Before we get started though I think it's time I take this necklace off, before we wreck it because we forgot to be careful."

"And we also don't want to bring down the wrath of Artemis on us," Jasper said as he was seriously starting to believe in the curse as well as the beneficial qualities of the necklace for if it could get a vampire pregnant who was to say that Artemis couldn't make the rest of their existences miserable if they wrecked her property, even if she hadn't said so. "Here let me undo the clasp for you and then we can put it in a drawer out of sight just to be on the safe side."

Bella turned around so her back was facing Jasper and he gently undid the clasp and removed the moon necklace from around his mate's neck putting it in a drawer under some of his clothes so that it was out of sight.

"Let's just make sure we don't forget it when we check out of this hotel room."

"We won't," Jasper promised. "Now back to what we were doing," Jasper added as he climbed back into bed.

"Yes, let's get back to what we were doing," Bella agreed starting to kiss Jasper all over his chest and stomach without another word, causing Jasper to begin to purr almost immediately as he just loved the feeling of his mate's mouth, tongue and teeth on his skin as just from that little contact alone gave him more pleasure then he ever known existed before Bella had come into his life.

Both Jasper and Bella begin to make love again which was not something the two of them could ever get tired of doing as there was nothing more they loved then fucking each other.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"You know I'm hungry," said Bella several hours later. "I actually feel hungry for the first time in twenty years."

"Well, Artemis did say that your organs would be restarted, whenever you wore the necklace and that is what allows you to get pregnant, so it is really not surprising that you are hungry," Jasper pointed out logically.

"Well, we had better get me something to eat, because at the moment I feel so hungry that I actually feel as if I could die from starvation.

"Your wish is my command, my lady," Jasper told his mate rising from the bed and quickly putting on clean clothes, while Bella did the same.

"So what are you in the mood for?" asked Jasper.

"You know I don't really know. I say we just walk through the bazaar as there are plenty of food stands there and maybe the smell of one particular food will attract me."

"Alright," Jasper agreed. "You know I can actually hear your stomach growling now and no offense, but to me anyway it sounds weird."

"None taken, as it sounds weird to me to," Bella agreed. "You know after we eat I think it is a good idea to leave Greece and find someplace to settle for awhile, like you suggested, since we don't know what is going to happen with this pregnancy. We don't know what my energy levels or going to be like, or how often I will need to eat human food or drink blood, or when I'm going to give birth or what other problems there might be. I know you want me to be confined to the house after we find a place, but after thinking about it I'm not sure if I can do that no matter how big the place we by is."

"You have made some very good points," Jasper agreed, "but let's worry about that later and go and find you some food. And Bella you don't have to worry about being bored while bing stuck in the house as I have more then one way to keep your mind distracted and no I don't necessarily mean sex, although that is certainly part of it."

"Alright," Bella agreed, "let's go get me some food and we can discuss the rest later as I feel as if I am going to literally starve to death if I don't eat something soon."

Jasper nodded and the two left their hotel room hand in hand, making sure to lock the door behind them.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

July 31, 1950

"So where exactly are we staying?" asked Bella as Jasper drove the car into Chicago.

The car in question was a Delahaye convertible and had plenty of room for Jasper's legs.

"Well for the next week or two we will be staying in a hotel," Jasper said as he drove the car down the busy Chicago street, "but I thought we could stay here for awhile, maybe, even two or three years so we'll be looking into buying a house just like we discussed back in Athens. Besides we need to settle somewhere pretty soon with you being more then two months pregnant as we have no idea when you are actually going to give birth since this is a totally new state for one of our kind."

"What you actually want to stay in a place more than a year?" Bella asked astonished. Bella was indeed very pregnant and looked more like she was seven or eight months instead of just two, not to mention very large, more than was normal for just a singleton pregnancy, which told the couple that they were more than likely having at least twins if not more. Bella knew very well that Jasper liked to move fairly often as they had been mated for 20 years at this point and she knew how he was. He got very antsy if they didn't go someplace new at least every year. Bella thought she knew what the problem was and that was that he was still looking over his shoulder because he had been a major part of the southern wars and he was sure that Maria would eventually try to get him back. Bella didn't know if he was right about that, although from what she knew about Maria she was a parasite with no fighting skills herself, but she thought what Jasper feared was not his old creator but the newborn army she was likely to bring.

Bella really didn't mind traveling as she liked seeing new places, but she would also like to settle someplace for more than six months to a year before Jasper got antsy and wanted to move on. They now had half a dozen houses all over the States all of them near majorly populated cities so that the humans wouldn't be suspicious if a few people began to disappear and in fact it was unlikely to even be noticed if five or six people disappeared every week or so as they always made sure to get rid of the evidence after they were done feeding.

"It's time I quit running," Jasper said simply. "I am tired of looking over my shoulder and moving from place to place every year. I'd like to stay in one place at least three or four years or even ten before we go somewhere else. Besides you deserve to stay somewhere for more than a few months at the time. I know you've never complained whenever we were on the road, but you deserve so much more and so do our children. Besides we have no idea how long it will take for these vampire children to be fully grown, although we know it won't take eighteen years like it would a human child, but how long precisely is unknown."

"It doesn't really matter to me if we keep on the move so long as we are together," Bella told him leaning over and kissing his cheek. "Besides you deserve more then just living on the road too, even if you don't think you do."

"I know it," Jasper told her as he took one hand off the steering wheel and took her hand in his giving it a squeeze, "and I will be forever grateful to you for following wherever I lead, but you were right all those years ago when you said the nomad life wasn't really for me or for you for that matter. It was okay for a few years, but I've been on the road for the last twenty-five years, five of those before I met you, even if we settled somewhere for a year or so before moving on. I'd like to stay somewhere for at least five or ten years this time before we either have to move on or are forced to. Peter and Charlotte settled down a long time ago and I think it's about time I did the same. We will of course do some traveling, but it's time for us to stop living out of our suitcases or whatever can fit in a car."

"I don't blame you for wanting to keep on the move," Bella showed him. "I know I've never met your maker, but from what you told me about her she sounds vicious and you have every right to be if not afraid of her at least cautious. After what you told me you went through in the southern wars…"

"Let's not talk about it or even think about it," Jasper interrupted.

"Alright," Bella said changing the subject. "So back to my original question?"

"I thought we'd go look around the city at the houses that are for sell and then get one that you like and start decorating and filling it with furniture and other things," Jasper said. "I want someplace we can come back to whatever we are in the mood and someplace that feels like home with our own things. I know we already own half a dozen houses all over America, but what's wrong with one more? As you well know vampires live forever and most vampires don't like to stay in one place for more than a few years before they move on if that long."

"I wasn't going to complain about owning another house, because you're right," Bella told him. "Our kind do live forever so long as our bodies are not burned and who wants to stay in one place for fifty or hundred years at a time. Not only would the humans start to notice that we do not age, I'm sure that we could decimate even a city of this size of its human population if we stay too long."

Bella often thought it ironic that she was now very rich and houses all over the place when she had basically come from nothing and had been struggling to survive after her father had died. She couldn't be happier about it though because, although she had accepted her fate she hadn't exactly enjoyed being poor. She knew that her mate had more money than he knew what to do with and so she was never going to object when he wanted to spend some of it. She really did hate to waste any of it, probably because of her early childhood upbringing. However even vampires couldn't get through their lives without having money and spending some of it sometimes, because they needed things like clothes and stuff to entertain them and Bella objected to stealing from people when they had the money to pay for it.

"Probably not, considering the Chicago has millions of people, but eventually we would be noticed not only because we do not age but because humans keep disappearing. Even if a lot of humans vanishing is never tracked back to us we still need to move on fairly often."

"I think I know what kind of house to look for," Bella commented. "I have after all had a hand in the other six houses we have bought over the last 20 years."

"Yes and you have good taste," Jasper said. "You always choose something that isn't too big or pretentious, but this time we are to need something much bigger since you are very pregnant and will probably give birth sometime in the next couple of months."

"Yes, I know and we need a room for Peter and Charlotte to," Bella commented. "So we need at least say ten bedrooms."

"More then that, especially if we want more somewhere down the line," Jasper said. "I would say at least 30 bedrooms."

"Thirty?" asked Bella in astonishment. "Do we really need so many bedrooms?"

"Yes we do, if we want a large family that is," Jasper said with a smirk in his wife's direction.

Over the last 20 years she and Jasper had visited Peter and Charlotte a few times and Bella liked both of them quite a bit and in fact considered them a brother and sister, just as Jasper did.

"So what hotel are we staying at?" asked Bella changing the subject.

"The Chicago Conference," Jasper replied as he continued to drive through the very busy streets.

"So we going to go get ourselves some dinner tonight?" asked Bella. "I need both food and blood as I'm starving and my throat is also burning like it's on fire."

"Yes, we can get you something to eat foodwise and well as some blood," Jasper replied not really surprised that Bell was hungry for both blood and human food as she seemed to need to drink and eat every few hours and Jasper was sure that would continue until after his mate gave birth. "I could use something to eat myself since I'm pretty thirsty as well."

"I want," Bella told him. "If I can find me a mugger or even a couple of them that would make me very happy and as for food I'm in the mood for a good stake cooked as red and bloody as possible, along with a tall glass of milk, since I know the babies need it, with green beans, mashed potatoes and of course dessert afterwards."

Bella really had a grudge against muggers ever since one had tried to conk her on the head, slit her throat and rob her about five years ago. It was one of the rare occasions where Jasper had been off on his own and not at her side.

Jasper didn't blame Bella for having a grudge against such people since one of them had tried to kill her and if she hadn't been a vampire and perfectly capable of taking care of herself she probably would've ended up dead. As it was Bella had turned to tables on the mugger and dragged him into a nearby alley and had her teeth on his neck in less then five seconds, so in that case it was the man that had tried to murder her that had ended up a corpse.

Jasper chuckled silently at his sardonic thought as he had been quite proud of how Bella handled the situation. Personally Jasper thought the man's death had been to quick and that that he had been shown more mercy then he deserved.

Jasper knew that Bella was more upset and the fact that that the man had ruined a perfectly good dress that she had just bought recently when he had tried to mug and murder her, then about the mugging itself. If there was anything Bella hated with a passion it was wasting money and Jasper was sure that that went back to the fact that when she was human she didn't have very much. A lot of your traits and habits that you'd had as a human stayed with you once you were changed and since Bella still remembered quite a bit from her human life it was only natural for her to hate wasting money, not that would stop her from buying whatever she wanted.

"If that's what you want, then that is what you shall have," Jasper promised.

Bella had gotten much better at figuring out what her body was in the mood for foodwise in the last few months, but then she'd had a lot of practice and although he had never said anything since he knew Bella needed to eat in order to keep the babies healthy Jasper thought it was absolutely disgusting the way his mate ate all kinds of things now and to him anyway most of it smelled absolutely appalling, although he knew that Bella enjoyed every meal that she ate. On the other hand he wasn't a pregnant woman either, which is why he was going to keep those thoughts to himself.

"Here we are the Chicago Conference," Jasper said finally pulling in to the parking lot of the hotel. "Why don't we go check in and then maybe see some of the city after we get ourselves some dinner?"

"That's fine with me," Bella said as she opened her door and exited the car not even waiting for Jasper to open the door for her like she usually did.

Luckily for them Chicago was one of those cities where it was often cloudy or rainy out so a vampire didn't have as much trouble getting out in the daytime.

Jasper made sure to lock the car and then took his mate's hand as they entered the doors of the Chicago Conference so that they could check in.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"So where are we going to get some dinner?" asked Bella as she and Jasper walked side by side holding hands looking nothing like nothing more than a couple who was very much in love. They didn't even need to don their sunglasses as it was now dark enough that no human would be able to tell the color of their eyes and would mistake them for hazel or possibly brown in the dim light.

"I thought first we'd go and get you that human food you have a craving for and then we would go down to one of the harbor districts as Chicago has several and a lot of times they are places for drug dealers, prostitutes..."

"Muggers?" asked Bella eagerly.

Jasper laughed a low husky laugh that made Bella's eyes go even more black then they had already been as what little bit of red had been visible disappeared. "Muggers galore," Jasper promised.

"Goody," Bella said even more eagerly. "So are we going to walk there after I get me steak dinner?"

"No, to far," Jasper said knowing very well the reaction his laugh had had on his mate as he could smell her arousal from where he was standing beside her. "Not for us, but we must remember to act as human as possible and I am not willing to risk our wheels in that part of town when you are pregnant and we might need them before we can get another car."

"Yes, I agree," Bella said clutching her big, round belly protectively. "I don't want to lose our wheels either as I've gotten used to not living out of a backpack. Besides I don't want to lose all the clothes and things we have acquired over the last 15 years, the stuff that isn't in one of the houses that is. Not to mention with me pregnant we might need to get somewhere in a hurry and I can't exactly run at full speed with these children in my belly."

It wasn't that Bella couldn't run at full speed but the last time she had tried made her want to throw up and so she had been forced to not run at her full vampire speed ever since then and wouldn't be able to until after her children were born.

"Which is another reason why we don't need to lose the car," Jasper said. "In fact I should probably be bringing your meals to you instead of you going hunting until after the children are born and grown, just like I suggested two months ago, although I know and understand that it's not what you want."

"Let's not do that unless we absolutely have to, because no that is an option of last resort as far as I am concerned and yes I know you said you had ways to distract me so I wouldn't be to bored," Bella protested. "Besides no matter how much you Peter and Char manage to distract me I still don't fancy having to stay inside even a very large house without being able to go into the city to hunt or shop or see some of the attractions if I want."

"No one likes that feeling of being trapped," Jasper agreed, "even if it's voluntary imprisonment it would still seem like you had lost your freedom and that could cause you to be irrational."

"I will stay housebound and even bedridden if I absolutely have to in order to protect my children, but I'd rather not have to do either."

"I can understand that," Jasper said, "as I don't fancy being imprisoned whether for my own good or not. It might be necessary though, which is why we need to find a house as fast as possible, but preferably something big like I said before."

"I'm sure this city has plenty of houses that we can buy preferably on the outskirts of town," Bella said, "all we need to do is go to a realtor just like we've done every other time and see what's available."

"We'll do that tomorrow, but now let's get you, your steak that you have a craving for and then hunt ourselves up some dinner."

"Alright," Bella agreed. "I'm starting to get very hungry and thirsty actually."

"I'm not really surprised at that considering you've been more thirsty then normal ever since you got pregnant and as for you being hungry...I'm not really sure what's normal for a regular human woman, so I have no idea if you being hungry as often as you are is normal or not."

"We need to buy as many books as we can find about the birthing process and also any other books we can find that will help us know what to do for every possible contingency."

"We'll do that before you give birth," Jasper promised knowing that Bella's suggestion was a very good idea.

They both fell silent for awhile and then Jasper admitted breaking the comfortable silence, "I for one never thought I would acquire so many possessions even if most of them are books."

Jasper had discovered that he loved to read which was not something he had known about himself before as he couldn't exactly carry very many books with him in a knapsack. What he liked to read most though was history books of any type although he did prefer ones on military strategies and war history, probably because of his own past. He had never known that he would enjoy learning so many new facts, things he had never known before, but he did.

Bella for one was glad to see her mate develop an outside interest as it made him focus on it instead of looking over his shoulder all the time.

"Here is a good place to get you your dinner, before we go hunting," said Jasper finally leading Bella inside a steakhouse place not to far from their hotel.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"We are going to take the train?" asked Bella. It was over an hour later and Bella's stomach was no longer growling, although her throat was still burning. It wasn't as bad as it had been, probably because of the blood from the steak, but she still needed to hunt and take down at least three or hour humans and drain their blood, which was way more then she normally ate, when she wasn't pregnant.

"It's really our only option. The train will bring us close enough for us to walk or run the rest of the way and we can always take a taxi or the train back."

"We'll have to walk, as I'm not really up to running at the moment."

"So we'll walk," said Jasper.

Bella thought it sounded complicated, but knew it was best that they vary their transportation and routes to remain as unnoticeable as possible. It wasn't that they were likely to be noticed at all as most humans weren't very observant, but tactics were Jasper's forte and he thought it was better if they didn't get into a routine just to be safe, so Bella humored him and besides she mostly agreed with him anyway.

"Okay," Bella agreed as the two of them walked to the train station which was several blocks away.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"So shall we do a little dancing once we've finished dinner?" Bella suggested.

"Since when do you like to dance?" asked Jasper surprised as this was one thing he had never known about his mate, even though they had been mated twenty years.

Bella rolled her eyes at Jasper and said, "I've always liked to dance, thank you, the subject just never came up before, since we were always on the move. I had lessons from the time I was five from my mom until she died five years later. A lot of the girls learned to dance as it was kind of expected that they would learn what was expected of a woman to know, which I always thought was boring."

"What kind of things are woman expected to know?" asked Jasper amused despite of himself. "Nothing at all interesting, except the dancing and reading and writing. Those were the lessons I enjoyed while the rest were just torture sessions to be endured." Bella said.

Bella's memories had slowly come back to her over time and now she remembered a lot about her former life, not everything of course, as that would have been to much to expect, but quite a bit nonetheless.

"Painting, sewing, embroidery, dancing, womanly graces, in other words manners and how a woman was supposed to act in any social situation. The only difference between me and the other women in the town I grew up in is that I was taught to read, write and arithmetic as my father believed that being able to do all three opened up doors to opportunities that most women never got. I think he thought I could become a teacher like my mother. Actually correction all the girls were taught to read write, history, arithmetic, but most of them didn't bother to do well in their studies and not because they were stupid, but because they figured they would never need them as they planned to get married and have children and all they needed for that was a little math and a little reading, and writing just so they didn't get cheated at the shops."

"So what made you so different from the rest of the women in the town you grew up in?" asked Jasper genuinely interested.

"I don't really know," Bella admitted. "I was often what my father called a wild child, always doing things that were not considered proper activities for a young lady, like hiking up the hem of my dress and climbing a tree for example. I also liked to read things that definitely were not appropriate for a young lady to even know about, much less read. I would often slip into my father's office and borrow one of his books and would return it most of the time before he even knew it was missing at all. My father became rather careless and stopped caring about everything after my mother Renée died when I was ten, along with my baby brother so after that it became even easier then it had been to do that."

"I think you were only considered wild, because you kept bucking against the system," Jasper suggested. "Even today what is considered appropriate for a properly reared young lady to know is very narrowminded, although it is certainly broader then what times were like 20 years ago or when I was born."

"I'll never be a proper young lady if all they are expected to know is painting, dancing, manners, sewing, and embroidery," Bella snorted in contempt. "There is so much more to be learned in the world then those few subjects."

"Times have changed a great deal thanks to the war," said Jasper. "Women were forced into the workplace in order to feed themselves and their families, thanks to the men going off to fight and we can hope things will keep changing so that it is no longer considered unusual to see a woman having a job even now that the men are home from the war."

"Some of the men will keep us down as long as they can, but I do believe we are seeing the beginnings of a new age or at least I truly hope we are and not so much for me but all those human woman out there who yearn to be free and able to do anything a man can," said Bella as the two of them boarded the train as soon as it arrived taking their seats as far from any humans that they could.

"Are you sure you're up to dancing, I mean you are very pregnant," Jasper said quietly almost hoping to talk her out of it. "I could take you dancing at another time when you don't have children in your belly, now that I know you like to dance that is."

"I still want to at least try to go dancing and if me being pregnant prevents me then you can take me sometime when I'm not," Bella said looking stubborn.

"Very well then that is what will do," said Jasper giving it without any further argument knowing that his mate could be very stubborn and it was easier just to give in to her then to argue.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

One months later

The vampire babies in Bella's stomach had indeed grown rapidly and both Bella and Jasper now knew with certainty that what Artemis said was true and they would not have just one child, but at least two as Bella was much bigger than she should be just for one baby. Besides Artemis had already said that Bella would have more then a single baby at a time although she had never specified how many she would have at one time so Jasper knew they were going to have at least twins. Jasper had indeed bought a house outside of Chicago, though it was more of a mansion as it was 20,000 square feet and had more than 30 big sized bedrooms, fifteen bathrooms, some of which could be redone as bedrooms if needed, a large den and living room, formal dining room large enough to hold twenty guests, kitchen, a large library and even a small movie theater, which was the height of luxury.

When Peter and Charlotte had arrived at the house outside Chicago just a week later they had been astonished to find Bella very pregnant as they had thought that was impossible and normally they would have been right. Jasper told them the whole story but then swore them both to secrecy afterwards and they agreed that this was the kind of information that should not get out as it would cause vampire couples everywhere to try to get their hand on the Necklace of Artemis in order to have their own. Of course it was not possible for anybody that the Whitlocks did not trust to use the amulet, but nobody knew that so it could very well be stolen by somebody unscrupulous.

Bella's fears had turned out to be groundless as Charlotte was not jealous although she was very envious of her sister-in-law that she was about to have a child something that she had always wanted but never been able to have. When she was told that if this experiment worked that they would loan the necklace to her so she could have a child of her own Charlotte was ecstatic and so was Peter.

Doing the last three weeks it had been Peter and Charlotte's main job to go into town and get humans to put in the cellar that Peter and Jasper had dug and then attached sturdy wooden doors too so that the baby or babies as well as Bella and Jasper would have plenty to eat since they couldn't go into town for the present for Bella had indeed been housebound for the last 2 ½ months as she got bigger and bigger. There were more than 50 humans down in the cellar that had been dug and a set of sturdy wooden ladder had been made as well. The ladder itself could be drawn back up and whenever it wasn't needed and this way there was no way for the humans to somehow escape if they somehow got past the sturdy wooden doors that Jasper and Peter had made for the freshly dug cellar.

All these preparations were finished just in time as not more than three months after she had gotten pregnant thanks to the Necklace of Artemis, Bella went into labor. The pregnancy had been pretty normal, well except for the babies rapid growth, at least in all the books she had read up until now. She'd had the backache for the last week at least and the babies had been jumping on her bladder and kicking at her stomach, both at the same time. Bella was extremely glad that she was a vampire and not human as she knew she would have to use the bathroom three times as much and as it was Peter and Charlotte had had a hard time keeping her supplied with humans to drain as she had to feed every day, in fact several times a day, instead of every week or two like normal, but then again it wasn't just herself she was trying to feed but her babies as well and a baby needed nutrients in order to grow and that meant, food, milk as well as blood.

When Bella finally went into labor she did not gush water like a human would, but blood and venom and Jasper was instantly at her side and carrying her up to their bed the moment she did so that she could give birth comfortably and not all over the living room floor.

"Charlotte, Peter, I need your help," Jasper called downstairs where his brother and sister had just come into the house after just dropping off another load of humans in the cellar, pulling up the wooden ladder and locking the door.

"Is it time?" asked Charlotte excitedly trying not to talk to loudly.

"Yes," Jasper said as calmly as he could although he was extremely worried about his mate.

"What can we do to help?" asked Peter sticking his head into the room where Jasper stood by Bella's side.

"First you can go get two humans from the cellar and bring them upstairs as Bella is probably going to need them, make sure you knock them unconscious first, but don't kill them, as I don't think she is up to holding a struggling human in place at the moment."

"Right away," said Peter and Charlotte both racing to obey the command. Both were back in less than five minutes with a human slung over each of their shoulders and both had been knocked unconscious as ordered.

"Thank you that is all I need you for at the moment, but wait downstairs and I will call you if I need any further assistance," Jasper said distractedly.

As Jasper was speaking to Peter and Charlotte he watched his mate intently watching as Bella breathed in and out slowly as one of the books they had bought suggested.

"Are the breathing exercises helping?" asked Jasper.

"A little," Bella said huffing and puffing. "How many contractions is that?"

"Three," Jasper told her soothing as much of her pain as he could with his gift. "I think it won't be long before the babies are born."

"I hope not," Bella said panting a little. "I don't know how human women do this even once much less again and again and I'm sure I'm not even in half as much pain as they are when giving birth."

"I'm sure you'll change your mind once you hold our children in your arms," Jasper said looking down at Bella's pussy where he knew the baby would come from only to see a head starting to crown.

Jasper could tell that Bella's pussy was rapidly dilating and it wouldn't be long at all before her entrance was big enough for the babies to exit the birth canal.

"Push!" Jasper ordered finally only half an hour later n his best major tone, so that Bella would obey the command instantly. Bella did as ordered and pushed and when Jasper ordered to push again she did so panting the whole time. "Just a couple more pushes and the first baby should be here," Jasper said as he picked up a towel that had been prepared and put it under between Bella's legs right where the baby would emerge.

Bella lay back on her pillow panting as another contraction passed and less then five minutes later another contraction came and she pushed again without having to be commanded to and the first baby slipped out of Bella's womb slick as you please onto the towel that Jasper had placed just for the occasion.

"We have a son, love. A son!" Jasper exclaimed as he took his new son into his arms and cradled him close not caring at all about the blood and cut the umbilical cord that was attached to the placenta with his very sharp teeth since he was sure that no knife no matter how sharp would cut though the umbilical cord since a vampire was impervious to injury except by their own teeth and fingernails.

"Is he okay? He isn't crying. Are you sure he's breathing?"

"Yes, our son is just fine, love and at the moment has blue eyes, that will change in a few months I'm sure. Concentrate on getting the other child born and then you can worry about our children."

Another contraction hit and Bella started to pant again anxious to get her son's twin born and to know if it was a boy or a girl and so she could hold both children in her arms.

Bella pushed without Jasper having to say anything as she was very anxious to see both her children, but she knew she was losing strength rapidly she had lost a lot of her venom, which is what gave a vampire their strength.

"Do you need to feed love?" asked Jasper in concern noticing how his mate's strength was rapidly fading. "I had Peter and Charlotte bring you two humans up from the cellar as I thought you might need some blood before you were done giving birth."

"Yes thank you I do need some blood pretty badly as giving birth is hard work and I don't think I'll be able to get this other child born if I don't get some strength."

Jasper didn't say anything but went over to where the two humans were still unconscious on the floor and carried one over to his mate, presenting the man's neck right where the vein was for Bella to bite down on.

"Thanks," Bella said just before she bit down on the side of the man's neck right where the pulse point was. "Hmm! That is delicious and I feel much better," said Bella licking her lips with her tongue in order to get every drop of sweet blood that remained after she had drained the man until he was no longer breathing and was no longer anything, but a corpse.

"Need the other one?" asked Jasper as he handed the corpse of the man to Peter who was waiting just outside the door.

"Not right now but after this baby is born I probably will need him," Bella said panting as another contraction hit.

Jasper was back at Bella's side instantly and ordering her gently to push so that the other baby would emerge from Bella's womb.

Bella did as ordered and Jasper watched as a head emerged from Bella's pussy. "Just two or three more pushes love and we will have our baby."

Bella did as ordered and pushed as hard as she could and suddenly another baby slid out of her womb and onto the towel that Jasper had placed between Bella's legs in order to catch the baby as it emerged all covered in blood.

"We have another son, love," Jasper said his tone full of joy and happiness handing the baby off to Charlotte, after cutting the umbilical cord, so he could be cleaned of all the blood he was covered in.

Before Bella could respond another contraction hit and she started to pant again.

"Now you should expel the afterbirth," Jasper said as he remembered all the books he had read that talked about births and what you should do.

"Ah Jasper, I think we are getting a little ahead of ourselves as I just had another contraction," Bella said.

Jasper looked sharply at his mate and saw that her stomach was still engorged although not nearly as much as it had been previously.

"A third baby?" Jasper asked his astonishment overlaid by joy.

"Apparently so," Bella panted as she exhaled in and out while pushing as hard as she could, "and I believe our youngest son or daughter is anxious to meet us as I already feel him or her in my birth canal so would you bring me that second man so I have the strength to birth them?" Bella begged Jasper her voice overlaid with exhaustion, which Jasper had thought impossible for vampire. "My throat is burning like a forest fire."

"Peter, you had better bring another couple of humans up from the cellar," Jasper told his brother who was standing right outside the bedroom door as he went over and picked up the second unconscious human and presented his pulse to Bella, who bit down immediately.

"Right away," Peter agreed gone on the word.

"Much better," Bella said as soon as she had finished draining the unconscious man's blood. Another contraction hit and Bella started to pant again as she pushed down as hard as she could.

"The baby's head is crowning," Jasper said as he saw all the head come from Bella's enlarged. "Give me another push, my mate and we will have our sons, sibling."

Bella did as ordered and pushed down as hard as she could, while gripping Jasper's hand hard enough to really hurt him.

"Give me another push, the baby started to slip out, but then slipped back into your birth canal."

Bella did as ordered and pushed even harder them before and suddenly the baby's shoulders slipped out and the rest of him was delivered in just another few seconds.

"We have a third son, love," said Jasper cut the third umbilical cord with his teeth and had Bella press down one final time so that the afterbirth could be delivered. "You did a wonderful job, love, I am so proud of you," Jasper added giving his wife a kiss on the forehead as he picked up all three placentas in order to dispose of them. "I love you."

"I love you to," Bella said still looking tired, but her smile was radiant.

"Is that my sons I hear wailing downstairs? Does that mean they are hungry?"

"Probably, since they can't be wet, because they don't eat food so they won't need to release their bladders."

"How are we going to feed them since they need milk as well as blood?"

"Already taken care of, darlin'," Jasper assured her with a smirk. "That is the reason I had Charlotte and Peter bring so many humans from town as I don't think our sons will have any trouble if we present them with human heartbeats. Our sons are vampires after all and I'm guessing their instincts will know what they need that and that they will automatically attack anyone with a beating heart. Also I had Peter and Charlotte buy several gallons of milk since Artemis did say that our children would need milk as well as blood, once they were born.

"Yes, I remember," Bella agreed.

"Are you feeling up to going downstairs and seeing if I'm right or do you want to stay up here and get your strength back?"

"If you bring that human that Peter brought over here for me to drain, I believe I'll be just fine. Besides give a vampire enough blood and they heal fast as you know. I would like to clean up, but I believe we are going to have to feed our sons first before I can do that."

Bella of course was no longer hungry for human food now that the babies were out of her belly and she was also back to her usual attractive, slim self without having to worry about losing all that extra birth weight that all human woman had after giving birth. Apparently there were some advantages to being a vampire.

Jasper obeyed and brought the unconscious human—a woman dressed in rags this time—for his mate to feed off of and once that was accomplished and Bella got dressed in a pair of Jasper's sweatpants and shirt as she didn't want to ruin any of her own clothes and Jasper didn't mind if they had to dispose of his sweat suit afterwards.

"I am so glad to see you back to your normal petite figure," said Jasper as he looked his mate up and down appreciatively just preventing himself from whistling.

"I'm glad to be able to see my feet again," Bella agreed not getting offended as she knew exactly what Jasper meant. "Well let's get downstairs, shall we?"

"Are you sure your feeling up to it?" asked Jasper. "You did just give birth to triplets after all. I know that giving birth is hard work for a human and they are exhausted afterwards."

"I'm fine," Bella assured him. "I'll probably need a few days and meals to recover completely, but I'm good to go I promise."

"All right," Jasper gave in still looking worried as he followed Bella downstairs already yearning to hold his sons in his arms.

"So what are we going to name them?" asked Charlotte as she cuddled one of the babies.

"We'll discuss it after we feed them," said Jasper as all three of his sons continued to cry up a storm making quite a racket.

"Want me to bring in a few humans?" asked Peter knowing how Jasper thought.

"Bring three humans to the garage as we don't want to get anymore blood on the carpet," Jasper told Peter and Charlotte. "Whatever our sons don't finish we can."

"There sure are handsome devils," said Peter as he handed over the one he was holding to Jasper.

"Of course they are since they take after their father, who is the handsomest man on the planet," Bella said as she took one the other two babies in her arms and cuddled them close cooing to them softly.

It was no more than ten minutes later that Peter and Charlotte came into the garage that was off to the side of the house with three human bodies, Peter carrying two and Charlotte carrying one.

The minute the three babies heard the heartbeats they stopped crying and started struggling in their parents arms trying to get at the three humans laying on the garage floor.

"There you go," Bella cooed to her sons as she put them both down beside two separate bodies right where the pulse point in the neck was while Jasper did the same with the other son.

Jasper had been absolutely correct in the fact that the three baby vampires would need no help in feeding as their instincts took over and the triplets snapped onto the unconscious humans necks and started to drain their blood.

"See, didn't I tell you?" Jasper said as he watched his sons proudly.

It wasn't long before one of the triplets let loose from the human's neck even though the man was still breathing and Bella immediately picked him up and kissed his forehead cuddling him close to her body. "Aren't you my good boy?" Bella cooed to her son.

Not more then 30 seconds later the other two followed suit.

"Well it looks like the three have had enough for now," Charlotte commented. "So what do we do with the three humans? They are still alive, you know and will turn into vampires in three days if they aren't drained completely."

"Why don't you and Peter finish draining them and we'll just get three more humans when the triplets get hungry again," Jasper said.

"What about yourself?" asked Charlotte.

"I'll drain one you two can have the others."

"Alright, it's not like we can leave them like this as if we did they would turn into vampires in just three days. Besides their screaming is getting on my nerves."

Peter agreed and chose one of the still breathing men, who was withering on the ground in incredible pain and screaming at the top of his lungs, before latching onto a vein Charlotte following suit with her choice and Jasper taking the last.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"So what are we going to name the little ones?" asked Charlotte cuddling one of the babies in her arms tenderly kissing the infant's face all over causing the boy to coo at all the attention he was receiving.

It was thirty minutes or so later and the three humans had been drained and disposed of. All three corpses had then been buried out in the woods that was at the back of the house.

"Well which one is the oldest?" asked Bella ashamed of herself for not keeping track of that, although she had been very busy at the time.

"He is," said Charlotte as she came up over to examine all three of the children and then pointed out one.

"How can you tell?" asked Bella with a raised eyebrow.

"I am the one that Jasper handed them too so they could be bathed and everything so I know which one is the oldest," commented Charlotte. "Besides they might be triplets, but they are nonidentical."

"Okay," Bella agreed.

"So what kind of names have you thought of?" asked Peter a little impatiently.

"Well Jasper and I discussed this before the babies were born and we decided that if they were boys that we liked the name Patrick so that will be the name for the firstborn."

"Patrick Whitlock," Peter said trying out the name. "I like it."

"Patrick Charles Whitlock," Bella corrected. "All babies need middle names and my father's name was Charles, although everybody called him Charlie."

"Patrick Charles Whitlock," Peter repeated. "I like it."

"So do I," Charlotte agreed.

"Well that's good because you are going to be the godparents of little Patrick," Jasper told them.

"In fact you're going to be the godparents of all three as we don't have anybody else we trust to do that," he added.

Both Peter and Charlotte looked flabbergasted for a moment and they probably would have been crying if they had been able to as they knew they had just been handed a great responsibility. One they would gladly accept.

"Thank you," Charlotte said as she got off the couch when she was sitting beside Peter and went over to hug Jasper and kiss his cheek and then do the same to Bella.

"Yeah, thank you," Peter echoed his wife.

"You're welcome," Bella told her friend's returning the hug and kiss.

"Now what are you going to name the middle child?" asked Peter.

"Which one is the second born?" asked Bella.

"He is," Charlotte told her friend pointing out one of the babies that Jasper was holding.

"Very well then," Jasper said as he held the son in question even closer to him and used a hand to smooth back what little brown hair the baby had. "Bella and I decided a couple of weeks ago to name the second born Gabriel Peter. We both wanted a name that wasn't too common but wasn't too unusual either."

"You named one of your sons after me?" asked Peter looking as if he was about to cry from happiness.

"Of course, you are my brother and I love you like one just like I love Charlotte like a sister," Jasper told his friend. "If we had had a girl her middle name would've been Charlotte."

Charlotte also looked all broken up at this but only asked, "Why the middle name and not the first?"

"Less confusion," Bella explained. "We visit you quite often and vice versa so having two people with the same first name in the same house is to confusing. We just thought it would be easier this way, especially when they are older."

"You're probably right about that," Charlotte admitted. "So what are you going to name the youngest?"

"Well since we thought we were only having two, we haven't really had a chance to discuss it," Jasper looking at his wife.

"Maybe everybody could make suggestions and we'll pick out the two names we like the best," Bella suggested.

The other three people in the living room were agreeable to that and so they started calling out names that they liked the best.

"Kevin?" suggested Charlotte.

"Richard?" Peter suggested next.

"Benjamin?" Bella said.

"Fredrick?" Jasper suggested.

"George?"

"Thomas?"

"Robert?"

"James?"

"Edward?"

"Trent?"

"Aaron?"

"Abraham?"

"Curtis?" Bella said.

"Kenneth?"

"Wayne?"

"Trevor?" Charlotte said.

"Wait," Bella said stopping the other three from naming anymore names. "I like the name Trevor that Charlotte just suggested."

"Trevor," Jasper tried it out and decided that he liked it as well. "It is a good name although it's not something I probably would've thought of if I had been thinking of names for my son so thank you Charlotte."

"You're welcome," Charlotte said who would have been blushing at the praise if she could have.

"What about a middle name though?" asked Peter giving Charlotte a hug.

"What about Malcolm?" Bella suggested. "It comes from Shakespeare. I've always liked the name Malcolm."

"Trevor Malcolm," Jasper said trying both names together. "I like it, so that's what it will be."

"So we finally named all three of your sons," said Peter. "You do know that you're going to have to make up the certificates that look real, right?"

"I know," Jasper said. "I can do it, although it can wait after we are sure they have reached their full growth and see how old they are going to look. There's no point of worrying about such things as birth certificates or social security numbers at the moment."

"You also know you are one lucky son of a bitch?" Peter added. "Thanks to you running across an old shrine to the Goddess Artemis you got the chance to have children of your own thanks to a magic necklace."

"Well, from what I read Artemis is the patron of the hunt, childbirth, wild animals, wilderness and virginity and and you combine them all and you can get even a vampire pregnant," Bella said. "In any case Jasper and I are grateful to her for without her necklace we wouldn't have our sons."

"Here! Here!" Peter said as if he was answering a toast.

"And instead of having one child you have three, do you have any idea why that is?" asked Charlotte curiosity radiating from her.

"I do have a theory," Jasper admitted.

"What's your theory?" Bella asked in surprise as she hadn't known about it.

"Well, as you know we made love for hours with no breaks in between and I believe that all three of our sons were conceived within hours of each other because as far as I know triplets do not run in either of our families, so I believe they were conceived during that twelve hour period when you were wearing the Necklace of Artemis."

"You're probably right," Bella admitted. "Once we removed the necklace I couldn't have gotten pregnant anyway and you and I made love a lot just like all mated couples do whether I was pregnant or not."

"That's some necklace," Charlotte commented with a wistful air.

"You'll get your chance to have a family in just a few years, Charlotte," Bella assured her friend.

"These three are kind of an experiment and once we know how fast they grow and what they need foodwise and things like that you and Peter can have your own. It will be just a few short years, I promise."

"They sure are quiet," Charlotte said as she held the youngest in her arms. "Babies are supposed to cry a lot, aren't they?"

"Human babies," Bella agreed, "but we have to remember that these are vampire babies and they won't cry unless they need to be fed because they can't poop, get sick with normal baby ailments and I don't think they can die at the drop of a hat like human babies can. We really don't know as no vampire has ever had a child so we're just going to have to play it by ear as the saying goes."

"You and me need to go into town and buy some baby clothes and other necessaries," Jasper told his wife. "We couldn't do that before because you started to show way to soon and because we weren't sure what would happen with you pregnant and if it would be a normal one."

"That sounds like a job for me and the babies godmother," Bella said, "but really I don't want to be dragged away from my sons quite so soon," she added and she cuddled her middle son to her breasts and kissed his forehead and cheeks lovingly.

"Do you think that these children are going to grow at a faster rate than human ones?" asked Peter.

"Considering how fast Bella's pregnancy went I would say that's a certainty and thanks to it being triplets she probably delivered sooner then if it had been just a single baby as multiples are known to come weeks, maybe even a month earlier then what is normal for a singleton," Jasper agreed.

"As soon as they are a little bigger we are going to have to teach them control around human so they don't give themselves away," Bella added having been listening to the conversation.

"If you will trust me I'll go baby clothes shopping for you," Charlotte suggested. "I know I wouldn't want to be dragged away right after their births if it was me that had just had a baby."

"Thank you, Charlotte," Bella told her sister gratefully. "That would be much appreciated. I trust you, you have great taste in clothes."

"Just make sure you get some clothes for all weathers, winter, summer, spring, fall," Jasper said, "and also get them in different sizes as these babies are going to grow very fast. Don't worry about the money you spend I'll reimburse you. Feel free to spend thousands of dollars as these babies not only need clothes but toys and other things."

"I'll get what I can, but they won't have Fall, Summer or Spring clothes right now, not until it gets closer to those seasons. I should be able to get Winter clothes though and some toys."

"Of course you're right, I wasn't thinking as the few times I have been in a store, they had one season of clothes and if they had any left from another season they were all marked down."

"It's not that either of us cares about being fashionable, but we can't afford to be to out of style if we don't want to stand out," said Bella. "I'll see you when you get back," she added, "and at least we don't need a lot of the usual paraphernalia that one usually needs for a baby, bibs, bottles, formula, burp rags and the like," said Bella. "With triplets we'd need triple the amount of paraphernalia then with just one if they were human."

Charlotte headed out the door and to hers and Peter's car in order to drive into town to do some major shopping.

"Is it just me or have the triplets already grown a little?" asked Peter holding one of his godchildren. "Trevor here seems bigger then he was just an hour ago."

Jasper looked down at the baby he was holding and noticed that Patrick's face had taken on a more defined look and he did seem a little bigger, maybe half an inch, which wasn't much and it probably wouldn't be noticeable to a human, but his sons had definitely grown.

"I believe you you are right," Jasper said. "I think that Patrick's face looks more defined and has grown at least half an inch. I believe Patrick looks like Bella more than like me."

Patrick had brown hair like Bella's except it was curly like Jasper's and his nose definitely had the shape of his wife's as did his cheekbones, but the forehead and the shape of the eyes, chin and mouth were all Jasper's."

"I think he is a perfect blend of both of us," Bella told Jasper leaning over to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"So who does this little guy look most like?" asked Peter meaning Trevor.

Trevor had curly blonde hair the exact same shade of Jasper's and also his nose, mouth and the shape of the eyes. The only thing like Bella's was the cheekbones and the shape of the face which was heart-shaped and the brown eye color that Bella had had when she was human.

"Mostly like Jasper, which means he's going to be beating the girls off with a stick when he grows up, all three will, actually," Bella admitted as she took Trevor from Peter's arms and handed him Gabriel. "He got the shape of my face and my cheekbones and the rest is all Jasper's."

"And Gabriel looks the most like you," Peter said as he studied Gabriel's face. "He has your wavy hair instead of curly like Jasper's, and it also looks more of a brown with blond highlights instead of a light blond. He also has your eye shape, except with blue eyes, the color Jasper had when he was human, also your cheekbones, forehead, and nose, but it looks like he got the shape of Jasper's mouth as well as his eye color. The hair though is neither your color or Jasper's."

"Actually that hair color is what you would get if you mixed blond and brown hair a kind of blondish brown," said Jasper interrupted.

"So are their eyes going to stay blue and brown or change to red like ours?" asked Peter.

"I don't really know," Jasper admitted and Bella shook her head to let them know she didn't know either. "If their eyes stay a natural human color it will be impossible to tell that they aren't human and they would be able to pass in human society much easier, although I am sure they will still have the vampire allure to lure their victims so they can feed off them. As for the rest we'll just have to wait and see."

"At the rate they are growing though I give them a year, maybe two, before they are fully grown," estimated Bella.

"Probably correct," Jasper admitted.

"So would you like to have more children, if you could?" asked Peter curiously.

"Yes!" answered Bella and Jasper at the exact same time.

"Not right this minute, but in three or four years once we are sure that these three are fully grown and mature both Bella and I would love to have more children. There's no rush as it isn't like Bella is going to get to old to have children since she is a vampire. Let us enjoy our sons growing up years before we think about having anymore."

"It'll be great if this experiment of yours really works out because then Charlotte and I can have children of our own," Peter said looking contemplative as well as a little wistful. "So how often do you believe that the triplets are going to need to eat?" asked Peter after a moment changing the subject.

"I don't know, but I would say at least once a day or so, maybe even twice," Jasper said. "We will have to keep them supplied with plenty of humans, which means two of us will be going into town frequently for the next year or two."

"It's a good thing that Chicago has so many humans that if a few disappear it isn't going to be noticed so long as we're careful," said Bella.

"Even if it was noticed when criminals or poor people disappeared I doubt very much that the police would put much effect into finding out what happened to them as it makes their job easier and most of them don't tend to put much effort into solving a case unless it is someone prominent, rich or well known or all three," said Jasper.

"You're right, of course," Bella agreed knowing Jasper was spot on as the police were underfunded and worked long hours for little pay and so they weren't going to strain themselves at solving a case unless they were forced to.

The three of them continued to talk for awhile switching babies often, which none of the triplets seemed to mind so long as someone was holding them, and cuddling them close.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

Patrick, Gabriel, Trevor: 3 months old

"Mama, mama," came three little voices and a second later they appeared stumbling out of the living room where they had been playing with the toys Charlotte had bought for them.

The three of them had learned to talk even before they learned to walk, although it was usually the opposite. They had actually started to talk at just a month old and their vocabulary and pronunciation of the words was improving every day. Now at three months old they were just learning to walk and their fine motor skills and walking rapidly improved to where they hardly fell at all anymore. Also the triplets had grown rapidly and looked like five-year-olds, which was also probably why their fine motor skills were also starting to come in so fast. Patrick, who was often called Paddy was the leader of the three boys which only made sense since he was the oldest. Gabriel, who was often called Gabe was the curious one and was forever getting into everything he wasn't supposed to and often leading the other two into trouble of the dangerous kind, so it was a good thing that none of them could be hurt or there would have been more then one hospital visit already. As for Trevor, who was often called Trev, he was also something of a leader as well, though more cheerful then his other two brothers, but was better as a strategist as that seemed to be his forte, even at only three months old. Needless to say both parents and godparents were very proud of them.

"Yes, my darlings?" Bella asked coming from upstairs.

"We're ready for another lesson, Mama," said Gabriel smiling up at his mother and every time he did it gave Bella start for her son's smile was exactly like his father's down to every last detail.

All three of her sons were already learning to read and write as their brain power seemed to be way ahead of their bodies and their motor skills. The thing that amazed Bella the most was that all three of her children took to the lessons like ducks to water without a single complaint from any of them. Most children of the age they looked would be balking at having to sit in lessons when they would rather be playing or getting into trouble, but all three boys went to their lessons with enthusiasm and begged for more. Actually it had gotten to the point that they were mostly reading whole children books on their own and their handwriting skills was coming along as well, although not as fast.

Both Bella and Jasper were amazed at the skills that their sons picked up almost every day and at how full of energy they all were. All three of them seemed to encourage each other in their studies to see who could do something better and faster then the other, but it was all in good fun.

Also as their bodies grew so did their appetites and each one was down to draining almost half a human now and all four of the adults knew it wouldn't be long before they were draining a whole human and possibly two or three, by the time they were full grown.

"Already?" asked Bella in astonishment. "Didn't we just finish your lesson a few hours ago? Wouldn't you rather go play for awhile?"

"We're tired of playing, mama," said Trevor giving Bella his best smile which always melted her heart into a puddle of goo.

"Yeah the toys we have are boring," Patrick added honestly.

Had they outgrown the toys that had been bought for them already after only three months? Bella supposed it was more then possible considering her children's rapid advancement.

"Well it looks like your Aunt Charlotte is going to have to take another trip to the toy store to get more toys appropriate for you, since it seems you have outgrown all the toys she bought you only three months ago," said Bella.

"Can we go with her, mama?" asked Gabriel with a hopeful grin, while his brothers nodded grinning conspiratorially.

Bella shook her head regretfully. "I'm afraid not boys. You are doing very well, but your father hasn't even begun your training of controlling your bloodlust yet and Chicago is filled with humans. We cannot afford to expose ourselves to the humans that are our food source."

All three boys faces fell and they looked down at their bare feet dejected.

"I'll tell you what, boys. You have been so good, that why don't I read to you the Adventures of Robin Hood?"

The boys faces lit up up that as they loved to be read to and one of their favorite books was the Adventures of Robin Hood. It didn't seem to matter that they heard the whole book at least once a week and that they could repeat the whole thing word for word because of their vampire memories they still enjoyed being read to and since none of them needed to sleep, eat, etc. Bella could and usually did read the whole book in one sitting with the boys listening in fascination the whole time.

If the truth be known the boys liked almost every single book by Howard Pyle and he had written quite a few between 1883 and 1921.

"Okay!" Three little voices shouted at the same time excitedly.

Bella chuckled. "Come along then, let us go to the parlor where we will be more comfortable."

The boys ran ahead of her heading for the parlor and Bella followed at a more sedate pace taking her time.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

Patrick, Gabriel, Trevor: 6 months old

"Come along boys," Jasper told his sons. "It's time for your first lesson in controlling your bloodlust."

The triplets were now six months old, but looked ten. All three had gotten much taller in the last three months and were no longer the same height. Patrick was taking after his father heightwise and was now 4 feet 10 inches tall and Bella and Jasper both thought that he would probably reach Jasper's height in another three to six months or be a little under or over it. There were people in the world that were seven and eight feet tall, although it was extremely rare. Also Patrick looked more like both his parents everyday with his brown curly hair the exact same shade as Bella's, growing down to his shoulders and his nose and cheekbones were shaped like Bella's as well, but the rest of his face was all Jasper's. As for his body he was definitely starting to look like Jasper there as well as you could already tell that his shoulders were going to be broad like Jasper's, which in turn led to a trim waist and long legs.

As for Gabriel he was about normal height for your average ten year old, which was 4 feet 3 inches and would probably be only about average height for a man when he was finished growing, although it was possible he would be a little taller. Gabriel's hair was still a wavy brownish blond, although it had darkened slightly and was starting to grow past his shoulders. Also Gabriel's body was starting to look more like Bella's with slimmer shoulders a nearly flat stomach and a smaller waist and shorter legs.

Last but not least was Trevor who was the youngest by about five minutes and he was almost as tall as Patrick, except he was only 4 feet 7 inches, instead of 4 feet 10 inches and he also had the beginnings of broad shoulders leading to a flatter stomach and slimmer waist then Patrick, although it was very similar to Gabriel's with a few differences. His hair was still almost the exact same shade of blond it had been when he was born, but had darkened a little and was the same length as his brothers and also curly like Patrick's. Trevor was the one that looked the most like Jasper with Bella only showing in the shape of the cheekbones and the shape of the face which was heart-shaped.

All in all the three brothers didn't really look much alike, although it was still obvious that they were related, but not that they were triplets, which only made sense as there had been three separate placentas instead of three umbilical cords attached to one placenta like there would have been if the brothers were truly triplets. It was also possible to have had two of the boys as twins with two of the umbilical cords attached to the same placenta and the other baby attached to a separate one, but what they had gotten was three separate placentas with a single umbilical cord attached to each, which is why the triplets were not truly such even though they had shared the same womb.

All three brothers were of course gorgeously handsome just like all vampires and their eyes were no longer the color they had been when they were born and were now just as red as their parents and godparents, because of the human blood they drank.

"So where are we going, dad?" asked Trevor curiosity radiating from him.

"Well, I thought about a late night movie, but then people would be curious as to why I let my sons stay out so late so that was out as we cannot afford to draw attention to ourselves, so I thought I would take you to the Adler Planetarium and museum, since all three of you have taken such an interest in learning the stars. It's a good place to start especially on a weekday because school is in session so there should be no children and also it shouldn't be very busy as most adults have jobs so it'll be easier to control your bloodlust."

"We get to go to a real planetarium?" asked Trevor excitedly.

In the last two months the triplets had taken an interest in learning the stars and so this was kind of a treat as well as a test.

"Yes, we are going to the planetarium as a family, so let's get going, shall we?" suggested Bella.

"Yes mom," said Trevor unable to contain his excitement as he headed out the door followed by his two brothers.

In this instance all three boys wore shoes, although they usually preferred to go barefoot as they were still growing and all three had busted out of a pair of shoes more than once as their feet continued to grow with their bodies. As soon as their bodies stopped growing so would their feet but until then they were going to have to go shoe shopping every week or at most two. Luckily if Bella's estimate was anywhere close, the triplets should be finished growing in just another six months and then they could wear shoes and clothes without busting out of them.

"If you do well at the planetarium then maybe we'll stop by a shoe shop and buy the three of you boots," Jasper said. The triplets had been begging for boots for the last month as they had been watching cowboy movies on the tv.

This really was the triplets first outing into public and it seemed like they had been trapped in the house and the surrounding property forever even though it had only been six months.

"Oh wow!" Gabriel exclaimed his little face lightening up at the thought of getting some boots just like the cowboys wore in the movies.

"Remember boys if you feel your bloodlust overtaking you, you must hold your breaths, understand?"

"Yes dad," all three boys responded at the same time. The triplets answered questions together a lot and also tended to finish each others sentences as well which could be a little annoying but that was just something twins and triplets did and it didn't seem to matter that the three boys weren't truly triplets, even if they had been born from the same womb within minutes of each other. It had also been theorized, although it had not been proven that twins, triplets and even quadruplets shared a bond and could read each others thoughts and if one was hurt the other was as well even if they hadn't been anywhere nearby at the time.

"Good," Jasper said and the pride in his voice was obvious. Most parents would kill for children who were so well behaved as his sons. He was not saying that they didn't get into any trouble, but mostly it was minor mischief and nothing major.

"Also for the purposes of this trip you are my brothers and not my sons," Jasper added as he led them out the car Bella following behind.

"Why?" Trevor asked curiously his six month old brain coming up with the answer all on it's own. "It's because we don't look young enough to be your sons. You and mom only look twenty-one or two and we already look ten so if we were your sons you would have had to have had us at eleven or twelve, which is impossible."

Technically the triplets might have only been six months old but really they were already reading at college level and their comprehension was almost as high.

Actually Bella and Jasper were having a hard time keeping the triplets supplied with books as they read at least three or four books a week in between their other activities. All three of the triplets were so intelligent that it just blew all four the adults living with them out of the water and Jasper wondered if they did an IQ test if they would turn out to be geniuses even though they were only technically six months old. In fact maybe it was time that they began learning another language like Spanish or French since all three were already reading so well. In Jasper's opinion all people whether human or vampire should know at least one other language if not two or three as it made understanding some people easier because not everybody spoke English and that was especially true of vampires since they lived forever and traveled a lot.

He would bring this idea up with his wife as soon as the twins were occupied elsewhere as he did want to mention it in front of his sons until he got his wife's approval, although he didn't see how she could possibly object, but still it was to ask Bella for her opinion and the final decision was of course hers.

"Alright boys we are approaching the outskirts of Chicago and I'm going to roll down the front windows so that you can smell all the humans scents that make up a large population of humans. If you feel like you are going to tear the door of the car off its hinges and jump out I want you to hold your breaths until the smell dissipates. I will use my talent on you if I have to, but I would prefer not to have to do that as you need to be able to go out around humans on your own without my help because I will not always be with you. Someday the three of you will want to get out on your own and although I and your mother are only a phone call away, that doesn't mean that when you are grown up that you don't deserve your freedom to do what you want."

"Alright, dad," Gabriel said answering for all three of them.

"Let's get this test started," Patrick added.

"I want to really go to the planetarium so I hope this goes well so that we can," Trevor said.

Out of all three of them Trevor was the one that most enjoyed learning astronomy. It wasn't that the other two didn't enjoy it but they just weren't as passionate about it as the youngest son of Jasper and Bella.

Jasper and Bella both rolled down their front windows and the scent of human body odor, blood, food, trash, and a lot of other scents hit their noses immediately.

All three triplets took deep breaths overwhelmed by all the scents as this was the first time they had been into a very large population of people.

Blood! I want the blood! yelled the vampire part of Patrick. Give me blood! Blood! Blood!

No you must not attack all those humans! Patrick demanded.

Why not? asked the demon part of him angrily stomping his feet like a petulant child who hadn't gotten his way.

Because we cannot afford to expose the fact that vampires really exist. Besides dad and mom made sure that we were all well fed, even, I believe the term is, stuffed, before we even tried this experiment so you should not need to feed for another three or four days at least. Just because you smell blood does not mean that you need to feed. You must learn control, so that we are able to get out among the humans without attacking them.

Why? That is why humans exist after all and that is to be meals for vampires.

Have you forgotten that most vampires were once human, except for me and my brothers? Vampires would not exist at all if humans hadn't existed first. Besides there are way more humans in the world then vampires and we would be fighting a losing battle if the humans found out we were real.

You're right, the demon in Patrick acknowledged.

If you behave I'm sure that dad and mom will teach us how to hunt on our own soon, instead of them having to bring us meals.

All right I'll behave, the vampire part of Patrick promised seeming eager to learn how to hunt on its own.

You had better as I am keeping an eye on you and so is my dad. Dad, will know the instant you try anything and we will be so sleepy and lethargic that we won't know up from down or left from right and dad is perfectly capable of keeping that up for days if he has to, so behave so he doesn't have to make us weak and muddleheaded.

Patrick's demon gave in grumbling all the while but Patrick thought of a mental key and locked the vampire part of him away only to be let out when he was hunting and feeding.

When Patrick finally opened his eyes he noticed that his mom was looking at him in concern. "You alright, Paddy?" asked Bella. Patrick noticed that his dad also seemed a little concerned as well but since he was driving he had to pay attention to the road.

"I'm fine," Patrick assured them. "I was just struggling with my demon and trying to get him to cooperate so that I didn't rip the car door off its hinges and attack the dozens of humans with blood in their veins. As I'm sure you know all the vampire part of me wanted to do was to drain every single human in the area dry and I couldn't allow that as this is our first outing out of the house and I for one am looking forward to the experience and seeing something new."

"I can certainly understand that," Jasper agreed relieved that his son was okay. "Even as vampires we need a change of scenery sometimes or grow stale from boredom, well either that or go insane."

"So are we going to the planetarium now?" asked Trevor unable to contain his bubbling excitement. Trevor and Gabriel had not had as much trouble controlling that part of them that wanted to attack all the humans and so had been looking anxiously at their brother waiting for him to open his eyes and come out of that place that he seemed to be struggling with his inner vampire.

"Yes, we all going to the planetarium now that we know Paddy has at least basic control over his bloodlust and just so you know if any of you three were to have an accident and your bloodlust did overtake you and you drained a human your mother and I would still love you very much. We both know very well how your bloodlust can overcome you sometimes especially as a new vampire and even once you are older it can still happen. I should know."

"It takes time to learn control when around a lot of humans," Bella added. "I know it took me over a year to really get control of my bloodlust whenever we were around a lot of humans and there has been a few times where I just couldn't resist the call of my bloodlust and started to drain a person in front of several witnesses, which meant they had to die as well including several children. Jasper and I are not saying that you will be the same as there really no way of telling, just that we will understand if your demon takes over and you drain a human without your conscious control, but if it does happen and you have a witness or witnesses to what happened they will have to die as well even if that witness is a child."

"We will just have to clean up the mess if it does happen just like we have always done even if that means we murder the fifty humans in the area and cart the bodies somewhere before getting rid of the evidence," Jasper said as he had nothing against murder as he did drink human blood since he was a vampire, although he would prefer to avoid such a situation if he could as it had happened several times already in his life and he hadn't liked what he had been forced to do.

All three triplets looked a little sick at that thought and neither Jasper or Bella could blame them as it took time to realize that some things were just necessary especially when you were a vampire.

"I'm afraid that this is part of the life of a vampire, my sons," Jasper told them. "You will have to toughen up and realize that if somebody sees you killing human that you will have to kill them as well even if it's a dozen humans who see you feeding. You don't have to like it, and in fact neither do I or your mother, but you will have to learn to be tough and do it because we cannot afford to let the human race know that vampires exist. Even though I was a soldier before I was a vampire, I was a farmer before that I never would've thought that I would ever have take a life, outside of a war anyway, but the last century or more has proven to me that sometimes it is a necessary evil."

"We know dad..." said Patrick.

"...but none of us..." added Trevor.

"...have to like it do we?" finished Gabriel.

"No you don't have to like it," Bella told them, "but Jasper's right and sometimes it is a necessary part of the vampire life even if none of us like it very much."

The triplets still looked depressed and all three swore to themselves that they were going to do their best to learn control so that they never had to kill anyone except for those they fed off of.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

Patrick, Gabriel, Trevor: 1 year old

The triplets had finally finished growing and looked about 20 maybe even as old as 22. Bella had been right on the money when he said he thought the triplets would look full-grown at a year old, although that had been just guesswork, but it was educated guesswork, based on how fast they had grown in the womb and been born.

All three triplets had turned into handsome men with Patrick being the tallest and Trevor just a few inches shorter and finally Gabriel was the shortest of the three brothers.

Jasper had been right when he he had estimated that Patrick would be at least as tall as he was if not taller and since he was 7 feet 5 inches and was a foot above even Jasper, which was taller then either parents or godparents had expected.

Gabriel was by far the shortest of the family, except for Bella as he was only 6 feet 2 inches and was 3 inches shorter than Jasper.

As for Trevor he to was over 7 feet tall and in fact he was 7 feet 2 inches which was just 3 inches shorter than Patrick.

"My you are all handsome young men," Bella said as her sons stood in a line before her in order to be inspected. "Sometimes I wonder where you get your tallness genes from, especially you, Patrick and Trevor as both of you are taller then Jasper. I seem to remember my father was only six feet tall, so who do you get it from?"

All three boys shrugged as this was a common question that had turned into a bit of a joke, among the family that none of them had an answer for.

Jasper came into the room then and Bella thought he looked very handsome and edible in a pair of blue jeans, western style golden brown shirt and brown leather cowboy boots.

"Now boys you know the rules and you will follow my instructions or we will return home. Going hunting for the first time is nothing to joke about and is very serious business, understand?"

"Yes, dad," said all three triplets at the same time

"No gallivanting off on your own or arguing with me or with your mother," Jasper added. "We must be very careful that no human other then our target sees what we are doing or they will have to die to even if it is a child. Once I am sure that you can not only control your bloodlust, but know how to be safe while hunting will I allow you to go off on your own with no adult supervision, understand?"

"Yes, dad," the triplets said again.

"I know you really want to be independent, but you must remember you are only a year old, even if your bodies look 20 or more and your brains are probably at least thirty thanks to all that knowledge that you have packed into them. Despite your book knowledge though you have very little real world experience the only way to get it is to actually live your lives. I realize we have kept you very isolated, but you all know the reason why we did."

"Yes, dad," the triplets said for yet a third time.

Jasper surveyed his sons for a moment then said less sternly, with a half a smile on his face, "Your mother and I love all three of you, more than we can put into words or express. Hopefully sometime in the near future you will have brothers or sisters since the chance Bella and I took was such a success."

The triplets heads jerked up at that as they had not known that their parents were considering having anymore children, although really it should come as much of a surprise since they had been showered with love, as well as discipline, and the materiel, like clothes, toys and games from the moment of their births.

"Would that please you?" asked Bella who had been totally silent up until now her lips twitching upward into a smile.

The triplets looked at each other and a silent message seemed to pass between them and neither Jasper or Bella was sure if the triplets were actually telepathic with each other or it was just the bond that all multiple babies, that came out of the same womb seemed to have.

"We wouldn't mind having a brother or sister," said Patrick speaking for all of them. "We would prefer a sister, but know that you can't really pick what kind of baby to have."

Jasper's lips twitched at that, but he couldn't really fault them either as what big brother didn't want a little sister to love and protect?

"Well, we'll see about fulfilling your request sometime in the next year or two. Before we even think about actually having more children, we need to teach you to hunt so you can be truly independent."

"Yes, dad," said the triplets in acknowledgement of their father's lecture.

"Jasper enough, they get the point," Bella told Jasper. "They know that hunting in order to stop the burning of their throats and to fill their belly's is serious business as we've drilled it into their heads from the time we were sure they could understand what we were saying so there's no reason to harp on it now."

"You're right," Jasper agreed giving his wife a kiss right in front of their sons who didn't seem to mind their parents showing affection, probably because they were used to it as neither Jasper or Bella had ever bothered to hide the fact that they deeply loved each other from them so the triplets had learned from their first breaths that it was possible to be vampires and still feel love, affection and all the other emotions that a human felt and in fact they were much stronger then a human's.

When Jasper and Bella finally broke apart all three triplets were just beginning to look a little embarrassed.

"Let's get going," said Jasper the amusement in his tone obvious as he was aware of his sons embarrassment, but was not about to give up kissing his mate in front of them just to make them happy, because if he did that he would hardly get to kiss her at all. As it was the only time they made love was when Peter and Charlotte kept the triplets busy in another part of the house, which is why both he and Bella would be glad when they could get out on their own without supervision.

"Yes dad!" all three boys acknowledged running out of the house and to the car just ahead of their parents laughter.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"So where are we going?" asked Gabriel curiously. Gabe tended to be the most curious of the three brothers and was always getting into trouble because of it.

"We'll since all three of you now look like adults, we're going to the seedy part of town, where the three of you can feed to your hearts content," Bella who was driving for once said.

"This will also be your first experience with how some humans can be attracted to you instead of avoiding you either because you turn on the charm or because they are so drunk that their sense of danger is nonexistent," said Jasper as he relaxed back into the car seat on the passenger side, since his wife was driving for a change.

"Also some humans don't seem to be able to sense the danger coming from our kind or if they do they ignore it, even when they aren't drunk or drugged or otherwise incapacitated in someway," Bella added. "Your father and I have come across some humans like that in the years we've been mated, although not often, but you must be aware it can happen because you will encounter such people in your centuries of existence."

The triplets listened as both their parents were almost always trying to teach them something in the stories they told so they always paid attention as they learned a lot about the life as a vampire.

"Now remember you are my brothers and in fact anytime we go out in public together our cover story is that I am your older brother and have raised you because our parents both died of scarlet fever. All three of you just turned twenty-one and wanted to come and have a drink or two now that you were of age. You are still living at home and saw no reason to move out on your own, when you were perfectly happy."

"Alright, dad," said Trevor who could see the sense in the story for it wasn't like they could tell people that Jasper was their father since they all looked basically the same age.

The other two nodded in agreement with their youngest brother as they to could also see the sense in what Jasper called a cover story.

"Very well then," said Jasper pleased. "Here we are," he added stopping the car in a parking space.

"I just hope we don't lose our wheels as that is very possible in this particular part of town," said Bella, exiting the car. "It's not that we can't afford a thousand cars, but I still don't want to lose our wheels."

"We can always buy another car. In fact we need too start teaching our sons how to drive so they can have cars of their own. If our family is going to grow, we are going to need more then one car in any case as they don't make a car that holds more than six or seven people," said Jasper also exiting car making sure to lock the door behind him.

"Come along, you three," said Jasper the humor in his voice obvious. It was also very obvious to people that Jasper was enjoying himself immensely. That was probably nothing Jasper liked more than hunting up a meal for himself or showing someone else how to do it as it was the most thrilling thing a vampire ever got to do. Well correction making love to his mate was his very favorite thing to do, although hunting was at least his second favorite thing in the whole world, Jasper thought with an inner smirk. He had no idea how he had gotten so lucky to not only have found his mate, but had three sons of his own. He had never believed that he would actually find his mate and when he did he was ecstatic and so happy he had been surprised he had been able to control his empathic ability. But then just 20 years later he had been lucky enough to find a damaged shrine of the Greek goddess Artemis who grateful for their help gave them a necklace imbued with ancient Greek magic and could get a woman pregnant, even a vampire one.

Now thanks to that necklace they had three sons and could perhaps have three or four more children in their future and maybe one of them would even be a little girl this time if they were truly lucky and blessed. That was for the future though and now it was just best to concentrate on their current objective and that was to teach his sons how to hunt and dispose of the evidence afterwards.

"Now the three of you need to learn how to lure your prey," Jasper began to explain softly in a tone way softer than human hearing could pick up. "Tell me what do you see when you look around in all directions?"

The triplets looked around them pretending to be heading to a bar to have a drink, "Well..." Patrick began hesitantly. "I see a woman, who sounds like she is trying to convince some man to share her bed."

"That is what human society calls a whore," Jasper told his sons. "Women of little morals that will go to bed with any man that will pay them and that is how they make their living, until most of them die for one reason or another, mostly at a young age. They are fine to make a meal off of if you so desire as nobody will ever miss them because most people don't want to acknowledge that such people exist at all."

"The only humans you cannot make a meal off of is children as they are truly innocent and should be given a chance to grow up and make something of themselves and that includes anybody under 20, though we would prefer you to go after humans that are over thirty or more," Bella told them.

"Which still gives you a wide variety of meals to choose from," Jasper added. "As for ourselves we mostly prefer to go after criminals of one type or another, which was not always the case until about three years ago."

"We will not ask you to do the same as we do as you should be free to choose who you want to feed on, whether that is criminals, the poor, the bums that line the alleys of every city in the world or normal middle class folks," said Bella.

"Not the rich?" asked Patrick curiously.

"No, not unless you absolutely have to for the rich are really to powerful and to prominent to the meals for vampire, unless they are so evil that you just have to get rid of them. The police tend to investigate more thoroughly when someone prominent and rich disappears and even if they never discover who is behind it it makes it very hot and uncomfortable for us until the matter is dropped and considered unsolvable," said Jasper.

"And if the police do discover the person behind the disappearance and come to arrest you?" asked Gabriel.

"You you get rid of the policeman of course," Bella said knowing exactly how Jasper thought even if it had yet to happen to them that didn't mean it couldn't.

"Correct," Jasper agreed, "and also move to another city just in case. Now boys, what else do you spot?" he added bringing everybody's attention back to the matter at hand.

"Did that man just pass another man some money?" asked Gabriel asked having spotted two men who seemed to be making some sort of transaction.

"Ah good job spotting that," Bella praised causing Gabriel to feel all embarrassed in his emotions although he pretended not to be.

"That boys is a drug deal in progress," Jasper said as he had seen the same thing his sons and mate had. "A large portion of the crime in Chicago is contained in this section of the city. Not all of it is contained just in this area as it would be impossible to contain all crime into just one section no matter how large since humans are an ornery race and have free will to boot so they aren't exactly going to stay where they are told."

"All cities have a section where a lot of the crime takes place on a daily basis and it's usually in what is known as a slum section or the red light district. You know rundown, where the trash isn't collected on a daily basis, like in better sections of the city and where it is just left in the alleys to stink it up, where the police won't go and normally don't bother even if they wanted to, well not without lots of backup anyway, that type of area."

"So what else do you see boys?" asked Jasper continuing the lesson.

All three brothers looked around and told their father and mother what they saw and Jasper and Bella both nodded in satisfaction as the triplets learned quickly.

"That's the end of the lesson for now boys so what do you want for dinner?" asked Jasper.

All three brothers looked at each other and Trevor finally said, "It doesn't really matter to me what I eat so long as I get some blood soon as my throat is really starting to burn."

"Well choose your target then," urged Jasper knowing that feeling all too well.

Trevor looked around and finally said, "I'll take that whore we just passed and meet you back at the car in an hour.

Jasper nodded and gave his son a word of advice, "Act like you want her services by offering her some money and then coax her somewhere where nobody is likely to run across you feeding. Somewhere dark without much light always works as humans don't have very good vision in the dark. Also don't worry about getting rid of the evidence as this area of the city is so bad that it will be assumed she was just killed because of her profession."

"You know what to look for if you want another after you are done with her," Bella added. "We'll see you back at the car in an hour."

Trevor nodded and was gone.

"Why don't you two go find you some dinner as well and we'll see you back at the car?" Bella said to her two remaining sons. "I'm sure you are as thirsty as all the rest of us."

"All right," Patrick agreed trying to appear more confident than he actually was.

"Just remember not to draw attention to yourselves and you'll do just fine," Jasper assured his son shooting him some confidence. "We'll see you in an hour."

Patrick nodded feeling more confident thanks to the use of Jasper's talent and disappeared down the street.

Gabe also disappeared to find himself some dinner but he headed in a different direction from his two brothers.

"Well shall we go find our own dinner?" Bella asked her mate.

"We shall," Jasper agreed taking Bella's hand in his own and walked casually down the street as if the two of them didn't have care in the world.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"So my mate, shall we get started?" asked Jasper with an absolutely wicked expression that drove Bella wild with desire.

"Yes!" Bella exclaimed who had been trying to contain her excitement at the thought of having more children putting the Necklace of Artemis around her neck. "It was very difficult waiting the last few years until the triplets were grown, but now that they are..."

"Yes it was." Jasper agreed. "So how many babies would you like me to give you this time?" added Jasper in a joking manner although he was just as excited as Bella was.

"As many as you want since it is unlikely I or the baby will die if I have eight or nine babies at a time since I am a vampire, so the babies will be too."

"I don't believe any human woman has ever had that many babies and survived the experience and at least some of the babies die as well," Jasper said looking thoughtful even as he started to remove his mate's clothes as well as his own.

"But our situation is totally different since we are not human," Bella pointed out. "Also I seriously doubt that our babies will have the medical problems that a lot of human multiples have."

"True," Jasper said. "Let shoot for the quintuplets at least and if we get more than that I'll be very happy. You do realize though if you are carrying that many multiple babies that it might be safer for you to stay in bed until after they will born and have me or Peter bring you your meals?"

"I know," Bella said her expression indicating that she wasn't looking forward to it if that happened. "It's worth it though even if I think I'll be driven insane from inactivity and boredom."

"It would also probably be a good idea to move somewhere new as soon as we're sure you're pregnant," Jasper said.

"That's fine with me, we'll probably need a bigger house anyway because even if babies don't need to sleep they still need rooms of their own in order to get away for awhile if they want."

"And we also need somewhere with lots of land so that they can run around and not be stuck too close to the house," Jasper said. "I've already started looking into that actually and I think I found the perfect place."

"Where is it located?" ask Bella, curiously having been unaware that Jasper had already been looking into a place for them to live when they moved away from Chicago, although it made sense.

"Philadelphia which is only about 800 miles from here, actually a little less," Jasper said. "They have houses out in the country, miles away from the actual city that are big enough for our needs and with enough land for the children to be able to run around and play."

"That won't take us any time at all to drive to it," Bella said as she estimated in her head how long it would take them. "If we made the trip at night when there were fewer cars on the road and took the back streets we could make it in about four or five hours, especially at the speeds we drive."

"Or less," Jasper agreed.

"So how big is this place you were going to buy?" ask Bella.

"It's about 30,000 square feet and has plenty of room for all of us. It apparently belongs to a fairly large family that has since mostly died out and the remainder of the family has agreed to sell it to us at a very good price I might add."

"Whoa! That's humongous!" Bella said. "Do we really need something that big?"

"If our family keeps growing, yes we do," Jasper said seriously. "I for one like plenty of space so I don't feel to crowded and also we want to always have a room ready for Peter and Charlotte or the triplets when they come home from a long absence. Also what really sold me on it was that it has a heated pool that apparently one of the family put in sometime this century, because they liked to swim in the middle of winter."

"How many bedrooms does it have?" asked Bella.

"50 and from what I know they are fairly large, so whenever any of our children find mates for example they won't feel crowded. We could even turn a few of the bedrooms and bathrooms or whatever into something else," Jasper suggested. "We really don't need bathrooms at all, but in order to keep up appearances we have to have at least a few. Besides we need at least a few bathrooms for taking baths or showers so I suppose we do need bathroom for that even if we don't need them for peeing and pooping."

"How many storeys, is it?" asked Bella

"Four, not including the attic, plus a wine cellar as well that is supposed to be big enough for us to keep our prisoners in until we feed off them that is," Jasper said with a smirk. "Apparently the former owners were quite the wine connoisseurs and had a very large collection."

"Sounds perfect," Bella admitted. "I can't wait to see this place and I just hope it's in good condition as a lot of these old mansions tend to be very expensive to maintain, which is why so few people can keep them from falling down."

"Why?" asked Jasper curiously. "We can always take our time and repair what needs it room by room or at least redecorate and that will keep us occupied for awhile."

"True enough," Bella admitted. "How extensive are the grounds?"

"30000 acres, which converted into square miles is little bit over 46 miles and I believe the house is smack dab in the middle."

"Almost 50 miles of land?" asked Bella in astonishment. "Boy did these people like their privacy."

"Well so do we, but for totally different reasons. It's really not all that unusual and if you can afford to maintain such a large property, why not?"

"A point," Bella acknowledged stroking the necklace of Artemis unconsciously. "With that much land we could even build on if we wanted to. We certainly have the money to do that if we want. Let's worry about the details later as I believe you and me were just about to make wild, passionate love and get me pregnant with our next children."

"We were," Jasper agreed huskily the general already standing at attention ready to go. Of course ever since Bella had come into his life he'd had a permanent hard on, as unromantic as that might sound it was still true.

Jasper took Bella into his arms and kissed her passionately with every ounce of love in his soul that he had before laying her down on the bed with him on top.

"I love you," Jasper told softly stroking the side of her face tenderly. "Even if we had never had children at all I still would have loved you for the rest of my existence, but that you have given me three wonderful sons that would make any father proud is something I never expected or at least not since I was turned into a vampire. Thank you for not only making this eternal life of ours not only bearable, but filled with joy and all because you are at my side."

"I feel the same way," Bella assured him placing a single finger over his lips to shush him. "I love you too with every single atom of my body. If not for you I would be nothing but a corpse rotting in some potters grave as I certainly didn't have the money for a proper coffin."

Jasper nodded unable to speak and just started kissing, licking, and nipping his mate all over her beautiful, gorgeous, exquisite sexy body not needing to say anything at all as his actions were more than enough of a demonstration to his feelings for his mate.

There was no more talking for quite some time, well unless you counted purrs, groans and whimpers of pleasure as the two vampires made love for quite a long time before their urges were finally sated many hours later.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"So how long did we make love?" asked Bella curiously as she lay with her head on Jasper's chest the Necklace of Artemis around her long, graceful neck.

"30 hours," Jasper said looking at the clock that was on the wall.

"Are you serious? 30 hours without stopping even once?" asked Bella in astonishment.

Jasper nodded.

"I believe that is as long as we have ever made love at one time without getting up to do something else," Bella said shaking her head in astonishment. "How many times did you release your seed into me?"

"I actually lost count at about 40," Jasper admitted sheepishly.

"At least 40 before you lost count that you released your seed into me now that's got to be a record," Bella said.

"It probably is," Jasper admitted. "How many babies do you think we created?"

"I hope not more than my womb can hold," Bella said. "I would like all our children to be born alive as I think a stillbirth is still possible even for a vampire."

"I read in one of the books that we bought when we knew you were pregnant with the triplets that the more babies you conceive the less likely that all of them will survive. Of course that mostly doesn't apply to us, but what does apply is that they will likely be very underweight at 1 or 2 pounds each and will likely need to feed every hour."

"We better tell Peter, Charlotte and our sons to keep us well supplied with humans then," Bella suggested, "especially if they are going to have a baby or babies to."

"Yes, I believe it will mostly be Peter and I that will be gathering up the humans we need in order to feed our ever growing family, once we get to this new place I'm going to buy. It doesn't really matter what kind of condition the place is in so long as there is a couple of usable rooms for you and me, Charlotte and Peter. We can worry about fixing everything after the babies are born."

Suddenly Bella felt several kicking sensations in her from inside her tummy and another doing a good job of squishing her bladder and it made her almost shout with joy, although she did kiss Jasper rather passionately when she felt that sensation.

"I believe I am indeed pregnant, love as I just felt several babies kicking me in certain parts of my stomach and one is jumping on my bladder."

"And I wasn't really paying attention before now but your stomach has already grown by quite a bit," Jasper said as he looked his mate up and down notice that her stomach had indeed expanded a lot just in the last few hours. "I wonder how either of us missed that?"

"We were rather occupied and it didn't hurt or at least not enough for me to notice since I was lost in some of the most amazing orgasms I have ever had and that's really saying something considering I've had some really powerful ones over the last two decades. How many babies do you think are in there?" asked Bella patting her stomach gently and feeling several kicks in response.

"Well you are already bigger than you were last time when you had the triplets so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a least four or five babies in your belly now and possibly more."

"I think you're right and I'm going to have to spend most of my time in bed and when we get to this new place and have you bring me meals as boring as that will be," Bella said. "I don't want to risk these children in any way and it's only for short while."

Jasper was proud of her decision as he knew very well that Bella liked to keep busy and staying in bed was going to be incredibly boring no matter how much time he spent with us her or how many books he brought her to read, especially since she could read at vampire speed.

"Look at it this way at least if we have six or seven babies they aren't going to have the disabilities that a lot of human babies have, which is especially true for multiple births. Multiple babies that share the same womb often have a number of medical problems depending on how early they are born."

"Yes, I read the story about the conjoined twins and how they had to be placed in an asylum to be cared for by the parents," Bella admitted.

The babies in question had been two boy babies and they were joined together on one side and each had one had arms on opposite sides of their bodies but their middles were fused together where they didn't have arms, although they still had their legs. Bella was actually surprised that the parents hadn't just drowned them and claimed it was an accident as a lot of humans tended to do that with deformed babies, which made Bella sad as even children like that deserved a chance at life.

"It is sad," Jasper agreed feeling Bella's emotions of sadness and loss even though those babies had had nothing to do with her. His mate had a very big heart and especially for the children of the world who were truly innocent. "I know it pains you to think of those two boys in an asylum, but there's really nothing we can do as even if we rescued them who would take them in considering that they're literally fused together and can't function on their own?"

"I know it," Bella said still looking upset at that article that she had read just recently. "I'll try not to think about it," Bella promised.

"Here let me help you remove the necklace so that we can give it to Peter and Charlotte," Jasper gently suggested.

"Alright," Bella said cheering up at that. "Charlotte, like me has wanted a child for decades and has never been able to have one, but with this necklace she should be a able to have several children of her own."

"With all these babies about to be on the way we're in for a very interesting time," Jasper said in the understatement of the century.

"We will be very, very busy," Bella agreed calmly although on the inside she was bubbling with excitement at the thought of more children. "Luckily our sons have already volunteered to help, which is a good thing, with so many mouths to feed. It was hard enough for the first three months with just three babies even though they grew pretty rapidly so just imagine what it will be like if between me and Charlotte if we have 9 or 10 to look after."

"Luckily for us they'll be all grown up after a year if these children follow the same pattern as the triplets did."

"And after that we'll train them on how to hunt and control their bloodlust around humans, so it will be at least another year, before we'll be able to allow them to go out on their own."

"We will also have to find some way to keep them busy as those toys we bought didn't hold our sons attention for long," said Jasper.

"No, they grew to rapidly," Bella agreed. "As much as I love our sons, we certainly didn't get much you and me time for the first year and a half or so."

"But you wouldn't have changed anything." Jasper said already knowing his mate's answer in advance.

"No," Bella said shaking her head vehemently in denial. "I love our sons far to much to ever say that, my point though was that was just three babies and since I'm so much bigger then when I had our sons that means more work and even less time alone."

"It'll be worth it in the end," Jasper promised his mate.

"It's already worth it, but I just worry that if the Volturi find out about our little family will they consider us a threat to be eliminated?"

"Let us hope not for even I don't particularly want to have to fight the Volturi, although we can if we have to. If we're extremely lucky the Volturi will never discover our family or if they do they won't ever figure out that we are related."

"I doubt that will work," Bella said doubtfully, "especially not after what Artemis said several years ago."

Jasper shrugged. "I heard somewhere that it is believed that somewhere in the world everybody has a twin and Trevor looks enough like me to be my twin and Gabriel like you. I doubt we will have a problem in any case as the Volturi are very well aware of my reputation and I'm sure they will assume that I taught my children all I know, which is true. They won't want to tangle with me or anybody I trained. Quite worrying about it, what happens, just does and we'll handle the situation as it comes up. If it does come up."

"I'll try to quit worrying," Bella promised, "but you know me the eternal worrywart."

"One of your most endearing qualities as it means you care and love a lot more then most humans or vampires I have ever met," Jasper told her giving her the kind of kiss that usually led to bedroom activities, but not in this case. "Let me go give this necklace to Peter, who I am sure is waiting anxiously for it and then call a real estate agent to let him know that I'll take the house and then I'll be back with some dinner for you."

"Good, because I'm starving and my stomach is growling like a whole pack of hungry tigers as I'm sure you can hear. Also my throat is burning like a dozen forests all blazing at once."

"I'm not in the least surprised," said Jasper glad for the change in subject. "I remember how you used to get hungry every five or six hours with the triplets and if we're right and you are carrying more then three babies I won't be surprised if you are hungry almost all the time, because not only do you need nourishment, so do they."

"Well, we better move into this new place in a hurry then, because if I'm this hungry now, just imagine how hungry I'll be a month from now as the babies grow within me."

Jasper could well imagine Bella constantly needing to eat both human food and drink blood until the babies were born and he could also imagine that it would be his, the triplets and Peter's main job to keep their wives supplied with humans to feed on. Jasper immediately gave thanks to his sons for their wiliness to help as he and Peter would have a tough time handling this job all by themselves, even with vampire speed.

"I'll be back," Jasper promised Bella as he disappeared out the bedroom door to head downstairs.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

2 ½ months later

Bella lay in bed bored for even though Jasper and the rest of the family had tried to keep her busy for the last few months it was very difficult for her to do nothing as she was used to being active. Bella hadn't left the bed at all for the last month because she was so enormous that even her vampire body was strained with the weight of babies and neither she or Jasper wanted to take chances of losing any of her precious burdens and so thanks to her good sense she had stayed in bed. If she could sleep it would help.

Jasper had indeed contacted the real estate agent that was handing the sale of the house that had belonged to one family for generations and had paid $40,000 in order to take control of it immediately and also took care of any back taxes and the agents commission. Within just a few days Bella was in a strange bed with clean sheets and Charlotte was also in a bed in another room just down the hall because she was also pregnant. Charlotte wasn't as big as she was but she was still carrying multiple fetuses, just not as many. Charlotte for one was thrilled at being pregnant and could hardly wait for the babies to be born and she didn't even care if the babies were male or female although she was hoping for at least one of both.

The triplets assistance had been invaluable and they were the main ones now that went into town to get humans for their mother and godmother to drain. Jasper had gone with them the first time to teach them how to do that without being seen and then left that job made to them.

Jasper's and Peter's main job now was spending time with their mates which they didn't mind at all as they both knew how hard it was to be bored and it helped they loved them and so didn't mind spending time with them.

"Jasper," Bella called in a normal tone of voice to her husband who was downstairs at the moment checking on all the preparations for the eminent arrival of the babies.

"Yes love?" asked Jasper as he came to stand in the doorway of his and Bella's bedroom.

"Could you bring me three or four humans to drain? My throat is blazing," asked Bella politely.

"Yes love, right away," Jasper said heading back downstairs immediately and to the kitchen where the door to the wine cellar was located, which had been outfitted to hold several hundred humans at the same time. Jasper and Peter had even dug a couple of primitive latrines on one side so that humans could use the bathroom and even left some nonperishable items of food for them to eat and several buckets of water. They did this so that none of the humans died on them before they could be drained by one of the family of vampires as a human was much better if they were still alive. Also all the wine bottles that had been down there were removed and were given away or sold since vampires couldn't drink.

There had already been several escape attempts made by the humans, none of which had worked and since the humans in question were made an example of shortly afterwards in front of all the others that had stopped the escape attempts. The humans preferred the relatively quick painless death of being drained to being tortured and then put out of their misery. What did Jasper do to the humans that tried to escape you might ask? Well he started by breaking every single bone in their feet and legs so that they couldn't run and then used his talent on them to cause you much more pain then multiple broken bones for two or three hours and finally left you to suffer for a few days before he took mercy on you and put you out of your misery by either draining you himself or letting his very pregnant mate do it.

Jasper came back into the bedroom dragging two humans behind him very easily not even bothering to carry them up the stairs saving the two humans from multiple bumps, bruises and contusions since they would be dead in minutes anyway.

"There you go," said Jasper as he presented one of the struggling men to his mate for her feeding pleasure not even bothering to knock him unconscious like he had when Bella had been pregnant with the triplets.

"Thanks," Bella said who enjoyed it a lot when her meals struggled and begged for mercy as they just didn't seem as good if they were knocked unconscious at the time.

"No! Spare me!" the man begged who was dressed in rags, that were now soiled with several weeks worth of dirt and other substances.

"Sorry, no can do," Bella told him grinning wickedly at the struggling man before she bit down on his neck draining him dry in no time.

"Hmm! That was absolutely delicious," said Bella as her tongue came out of her mouth to lick her bottom lip of every last drop of blood causing Jasper's cock to stand at attention as he found the action an incredible turn on and very, very sexy.

"Want the other?" asked Jasper already knowing the answer as he knew that Bella still must be very thirsty as she had been feeding almost constantly especially this last month.

"Yes," Bella answered.

Jasper handed over the other struggling man and taking the corpse with him headed back downstairs so that he could get Bella a couple more humans to drain.

When Jasper got back dragging two other humans behind him a man and a woman this time instead of two men Bella had thrown the corpse of the man she had finished draining on the floor of the bedroom not seeming to care that she had taken a human life or that she had just disposed of him like so much garbage. If truth be known none of the Whitlocks really cared what happened to the humans after they drained them as they were mostly criminals being searched for by the police or bums and winos that lived on the streets trying to stay alive by eating out of peoples trashcans. Some humans would try to tell you that every life was preious, but the Whitlocks didn't care.

Bella snatched the woman that Jasper handed her immediately as she was still very thirsty and begin to drain her enjoying how the woman struggled trying to escape the very tight grip that Bella had on her although it was useless. It wasn't very long before the women quit whimpering and struggling entirely and just slumped forward almost completely dead and it was only a few seconds later that Bella finished getting every drop of nectar out of the woman's veins and allowed the corpse to slump to the bedroom floor.

"Want this last human?" asked Jasper.

"Yes, and after I finish with him we need to decide on names for the children," Bella said as she took the man that her mate offered her.

"Yes, it is better to have names all picked out," Jasper agreed. "It won't be long now before you give birth, maybe even not more than a couple of days if that. I have been thinking about it and I thought it might be better to pick out 20 or 30 names and then decide on what combinations we want after we see if we get boys or girls or a combination of both."

"It'll be a combination of both, although how many of each I don't know but it goes against the statistics to just have boys or girls, especially with so many," Bella said.

"You're more than likely right about that," Jasper agreed knowing that his wife had read some book on the subject sometime in the past and he knew that her knowledge came from that fact, although he couldn't exactly pinpoint when she had read a book like that. "In any case we won't have long to wait."

"I'll be very glad when these babies are born so that I can get out of this bed," Bella said. "Not being able to sleep like a human doesn't help and I've been stuck in this bed for a month."

Bella bit down on the side of the struggling man's neck and it wasn't very long before she had sucked up every single drop of blood in the man's veins. The thing was that even after draining four humans in an hour Bella would be starving again and would need four more and in fact would need to feed every hour and it had been this way for the last month.

Once Bella had finished draining the man she dropped him to the floor where he fell on top of the dead woman that she had drained just a few minutes before. "Would you mind getting rid of those corpses before we have that discussion?" asked Bella she looked at the two dead people with distaste.

Of course," Jasper said picking up two of the corpses easily and carrying them downstairs.

Usually Bella wasn't so fastidious, but having to look at the corpses she drained was one of the few things that caused her to want to clean up the mess immediately so that meant that the corpses had gotten out of her sight to be buried or burned. Actually come to think of it Bella wasn't usually so cleanly except when she fed at home. She didn't really care about cleaning up if they were hunting in the city, but if she couldn't go out and hunt herself for some reason and he brought her a meal home, once that meal was nothing but a corpse it had to be gotten rid of as fast as possible. Maybe she didn't want the corpse desecrating what she considered her territory? Jasper mused. Oh well it didn't really matter why Bella was like she was as everyone had their quirks, him included.

"So what names have you thought of?" asked Jasper as he came back in from burying the four corpses of the humans Bella had drained.

"I really like the name Melodie, spelled with an IE on the end instead of a Y for a girls first name."

"Melodie," Jasper said the name rolling off his tongue. "You mean like music or a song?"

"I'm pretty sure that's where the name originally came from," Bella said.

"I like it," Jasper decided that he liked it a lot as it was a very pretty name. "We will name one of our children Melodie, but if we only have one girl her middle name must be Charlotte."

"Fine with me," Bella agreed. "I have no objections as Charlotte is a beautiful name and she does happen to be my best friend and sister. Another girl name I like is Lenore, it means light and is a version of Eleanor, just not as formal."

Jasper nodded as he liked that as well and gestured at her to continue.

"I like Perrin for a boy, which is a variant of Peter and means rock. I also like Bryon for a boy name spelled with a Y and O instead of a I and A. The name means high, noble. Finally the only other boy name I came up with that I like is Bruce, which is a form of Brewster and means brewer."

"Anymore girls names you like?" asked Jasper before giving his own suggestions.

"Chloe," Bella answered immediately. "It means green shoot. Oh and Leslie, which means holly garden or gray castle."

"Those are all good names," Jasper told his mate sincere in his praise since it was obvious that Bella had really thought about what names she liked for their children. Of course she had had little else to do except read and think, especially this last month, although Jasper had been teaching her Italian until just a week or so ago.

"So what are your suggestions?" asked Bella.

"Well, for boys names," Jasper said. "I like Troy, Joseph, Franklin, Perry, Oliver, or Benjamin. For girls I like Edwina Lynnette, Camille, Mona, Leah or Meredith."

"We're going to have to come up with some more names," Bella said. "That's only six boys names and six girls names from you and only three boys names and four girls names from me. Kellen? Lucas?" Bella suggested after a few minutes of thought.

"Luke is good, but I don't really like Lucas," Jasper admitted. "Kellen is okay and means slender I believe."

"Luke then," said Bella agreeing immediately as if was the first name she had come up with that Jasper disagreed with.

"Albert? Russell?" Jasper suggested after he was sure Bella was done with her suggestions.

"Both good names," Bella said, really liking both of them. "What about girls though?"

"Sylvia? Sandra?" Jasper suggested.

"Seleste? Hermione?"

"Where'd you get a name like Hermione?" asked Jasper. "It is certainly unusual."

"Shakespeare," Bella answered. Bella loved Shakespeare and had a read every single one of his plays several times actually. "In Greek mythology, Hermione was the daughter of Helene and Menelas. She was given in marriage to Pyrrhus, son of Achilles. However Pyrrhus was in love with his captive from the Troy war, Andromache, widow of Hector, who refused to marry him. Hermione, jealous and humiliated, used Oreste, son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestre, who was in love with her and asked him to "save her honour" (but refusing to commit herself further did not say what she meant, which was "kill Andromache"). Oreste understood her request in the way that best suited his own interest and murdered Pyrrhus. Needless to say that didn't win him Hermione's love."

"I will have to read Shakespeare now," Jasper mused, "but that can wait for later."

"Yes, it can as I believe that our children are ready to enter this world," Bella said as calmly as possible.

Jasper looked at the bed and noticed that it was soaked with venom and blood and jumped out from the chair he had been sitting in while talking to his mate.

"Peter, I need you," Jasper called for his brother.

Peter heard the call and reluctantly left Charlotte's side to answer Jasper. "Bella's gone into labor?"

"Yes she has you know what to do," Jasper said.

Peter nodded and was gone.

"What can we do dad?" asked all three of Jasper's and Bella's sons as they appeared in the doorway of their parents bedroom.

"You can start bringing all the humans from the wine cellar and then take the corpses outside and bury them," Jasper said to his sons in a distracted manner. "Your mother will need to feed after each birth just like she did with you."

All the triplets nodded and went to follow instructions.

"Oh and boys..." The triplets stopped and listened as their father spoke again. "Make sure you keep the wine cellar well supplied with humans as we will need them for your brothers and sisters when they are born. Get as many as you can bring without attracting attention to yourselves."

"Yes, dad," the triplets said obeying the command heading to the wine cellar to see how many humans remained and to get their mother some to feed on. After that was accomplished they planned to go into town to get as many humans as they could at one time and bring them back to the house for later draining. Luckily for them Philadelphia was a very large city with several million people, so large in fact that if 500 people disappeared at a time it wouldn't really be noticed so long as they were poor or criminal. The Whitlock family of course, would never take that many at one time as they tried to spread out their feeding and even went to other towns by running or driving. They didn't always hunt in Philadelphia actually, as they were going to be staying here for several years and they didn't want to be noticed even when they decided to move somewhere else.

All the humans in the cellar didn't come from Philadelphia, although a lot of them did, but from several towns that were hundreds of miles apart as that kind of distance was nothing to a vampire even if they drove the back roads. They always kidnapped people that they knew wouldn't be missed, tourists, criminals, bums, winos, and poor folks. Also they always went to major cities to do their hunting and kidnapping, places with thousands if not millions of people so that when people disappeared it wasn't likely to be noticed.

"Here you go dad," said Patrick dumping one of the humans they had gotten from the cellar off to the side of the room where he was out of the way until he was needed while Gabriel and Trevor did the same.

"Thank you boys," Jasper said. "Why don't two of you go into town and start kidnapping humans while one of you stays here to help out?"

"Patrick and I will go," Gabriel decided quickly. "Trevor can stay here and help you out."

"That's fine, be careful. By the time you get back some of your new brothers and sisters will be here."

Patrick and Gabriel disappeared down the stairs at vampire speed and Jasper turned his attention back to his mate. "Come on push my mate!" Jasper ordered. "You can do it!"

Bella did as instructed and pushed as hard as she could panting and grunting in pain all the while, but finally she was awarded for her effects as Jasper saw a head start to crown. "One more push should do it," Jasper said calmly and Bella obeyed pushing as hard as she could grunting with effort and was rewarded as the first baby's head popped out and then the shoulders slid out as the rest of the body was delivered.

"It's a girl," said Jasper cutting the umbilical cord and then wrapping the baby in a pink blanket before handing her to Trevor who was still standing in the doorway. "Make sure she feeds," Jasper ordered his son. "Whatever she doesn't finish you must either kill or drain as we cannot allow any of the humans to turn into vampires and our daughter's venom is just as capable as making that occur as ours is, even if she doesn't have very much at the moment because she is so small."

"Yes dad," said Trevor accepting his little sister into his arms and cooing to her softly. "She's awfully tiny and can't weigh more then a pound, maybe two."

"I expected that and often happens with multiples," Jasper explained distractedly as he watched his mate push down again in order to get another baby out of her womb. "Most multiple births are delivered by caesarean section, but that isn't really possible with your mother, because it isn't possible to cut into her stomach in order to remove the babies that way since her skin like ours is impenetrable."

"Couldn't you do it with your fingernails? They are the only thing that will cut into vampire skin."

"I could, but since we are mates I could never hurt your mother as the mates bond prevents it and it would almost certainly kill me to even try bond or no bond because I love her so much."

In that instant Trevor knew that someday he would like to find his own mate, someone who loved him as much as as his father loved his mother and vice versa of course.

Trevor left the doorway to head downstairs to the kitchen carrying his wailing little sister in his arms tenderly and headed to the garage where he knew that his Uncle Peter would have several humans waiting as per Jasper's instructions.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"Here you go Uncle Peter," said Trevor passing his wailing little sister over to his uncle.

"A girl," said Peter looking down at the tiny little girl who could fit in just one hand.

"With a good set of lungs and considering she was born very premature that is saying something," said Trevor.

The wailing suddenly got louder and Peter knew he had better get this little one fed and fast as she sounded as if she was ready to bring down the whole house with her cries.

"There you go little one," said Peter cutting the human's neck open with his fingernail for the little girl vampire because she was so tiny that he didn't think she could do it on her own quite yet. Peter had only cut the man's neck enough so that the blood flowed but not enough to kill him as he knew that blood was much better fresh and hot and not after the human was dead.

The baby vampire immediately scented blood and was on the bleeding man in less than a second after Peter had put her down right on top of where the man was bleeding. The little girl sunk her tiny fangs into the man's throat without any further help and started to drain the man rapidly.

"You sure do have a big appetite don't you, little girl," said Peter as he watched as the baby drink for over a minute before she finally released the still breathing man.

"All done? That's a good girl," Peter said immediately picking up the tiny baby and patting her on the back while kissing her forehead tenderly.

"Here Uncle Peter, I'll take my sister and here's my brother for you," said Gabriel handing over another baby, a boy, who was just as tiny as his big sister. Gabriel had just gotten back from the city with his brother Patrick and so had been pressed into service immediately.

Peter took the tiny boy and placed him down on his stomach in the same spot his sister had just occupied and the tiny boy attached himself to the man's pulse the second he smelled the blood that was still trickling out of the man's throat.

The little boy took several long draws of the man's blood and then detached himself. "Good, job little guy," Peter praised the very small boy who simply looked up into the big man's face not seeming at all afraid of Peter who was so much bigger then him.

"I'll take over Uncle Peter, Aunt Charlotte needs you," said Patrick coming into the garage to take his uncle's place feeding his siblings.

"Is she okay?" asked Peter instantly in a state of panic. If anything happened to his mate he would not be able to survive.

"She's fine," Patrick assured his honorary uncle. "She just went into labor that's all and asked me to come get you."

Peter nodded some of the panic leaving his face, but he handed the tiny boy to Patrick anyway and was gone out of the garage and into the house in a flash.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

Sometime later all the adults in the house congregated in the living room and sat down with sighs of relief glad to be able to relax for a bit.

Both Bella and Charlotte were back to normal size and just fine now that all the children had been born. Both also knew that there was no way a human woman would have recovered this fast, but all it had really taken for them to return to normal was several humans apiece and all that fresh blood healed up whatever damage had been done during the birth of their children and gave them more energy, heightening their senses and allowing them to think more clearly.

"You sure you're okay," Peter asked Charlotte still looking worried.

"I'm fine, Peter, you can quit worrying," Charlotte said as she cuddled one of her children in her arms.

Charlotte had had quadruplets and these were true quadruplets as it had only been one placenta with four umbilical cords attached and not two placentas each with a pair of twins and they were all identical boys much to Charlotte's disappointment as she had wanted at least one girl.

As for Bella and Jasper they had gotten their wish and gotten boys as well as girls and boy had they gotten them as they had eight babies to deal with. Eight! The two Whitlocks had been expecting maybe quintuplets but this was a lot more than they had been expecting.

"Boy when you do it you really do it," Trevor commented as he was holding a couple of his very small siblings. All 12 of the babies had been fed and so they were not crying and seemed content just to be held and cuddled.

Everybody laughed at that as they agreed with Trevor.

"I agree with you," Jasper said dryly. "I was expecting quintuplets maybe but not this many. I am actually very surprised that all of them have survived because as far as I know not only are octuplets exceedingly rare at least some of them die within hours of their births or at the most days."

"These are vampire babies though," Bella pointed out. "They have stronger genes and also a stronger survival instinct then a human baby. Besides we're not likely to have all the problems that you can have with multiple human births. Sickness, disease, problems with their lungs, stomach or intestinal tract or bleeding in the brain from being born to early. Natural causes carry off whole platoons of them."

Jasper and Bella had indeed had octuplets as they were called and four of them were actually two sets of twins, one set identical, the other fraternal while the others were fraternal quadruplets.

Jasper held two of his children and was grateful they were here and that they had all been born alive, if you could use that term for a vampire baby, as he knew very well that with multiple births came very high risk of not having any of the babies survive. Of course that was with a human pregnancy and didn't really count for a vampire pregnancy since before just over three years ago a vampire getting pregnant had been impossible. Jasper was also grateful for the fact that he had gotten three little girls to spoil and he already loved them just as much as he loved his wife and his three older sons. He would fight anybody to the death who tried to take them from him and that included the Volturi or Maria if she was still in this existence.

"So what are you going to name my brothers and sisters?" asked Gabriel as he cuddled one of his baby brothers close to his chest.

"Well your father and I have already discussed names for your bothers and sisters and we came up with extra names just in case we had more babies then we thought," said Bella.

"Which happened," said Peter dryly from over where he was holding and cuddling two of his own sons.

Bella stuck out her tongue at her brother and everybody laughed at the byplay. "It isn't like we could have gone to the doctor like a regular human couple and let him determine how many babies I was carrying, even if today's technology was advanced enough in this day and age to determine that."

"True enough," Peter admitted.

Everybody laughed again.

"Alright so what are we going to name all our children?" asked Charlotte who had been mostly silent up until now as she was still reveling in the fact that she had been able to give birth to four children. Even if they were all boys she still loved them and would fight furiously in order to protect her family and knew that Peter would do the same.

"Well, as for Jasper and I we decided if we had any girls one of them would be named Melodie Charlotte Whitlock," Bella said, "and since the firstborn was a girl that is what her name shall be."

"You named your firstborn after me?" asked Charlotte looking all broken up.

"Of course you are my best friend and sister," Bella told her friend. "Besides if you remember from when our sons were born we told you that if one of them had been a girl then their middle name would've been Charlotte and now we can fulfill that promise."

"Melodie Charlotte, that's an awfully pretty name," Patrick said.

"We certainly think so," Jasper said.

"So which one is Melodie?" asked Charlotte.

"She is," said Trevor coming forward and showing his aunt a beautiful baby girl with Jasper's honey blond hair except it was wavy instead of curly.

"She looks mostly like Jasper," Charlotte said as she looked down at the beautiful little girl.

"As for Melodie's twin, which was a boy, we have decided to name him Bryon Franklin," said Jasper as he got to his feet and presented a beautiful boy that looked exactly like Melodie, except for the obvious fact that it was a boy. Bryon had the same beginnings of wavy honey blond hair that his older sister did and also the same facial features and in fact the only difference, at least right now was their equipment, which meant that Bryon had a little penis and testicles and Melodie didn't.

"The next child to be born was also a boy and we decided to name him Troy Joseph," said Bella.

"Troy, now that's an unusual name," said Charlotte.

"We both like unusual names not ones that a thousand or more people human or not have," said Jasper with a wink at his sister.

"This is Troy," said Patrick coming forward with a handsome tiny little boy that had the beginnings of blondish brown hair except curly and looked so much like Bella it was uncanny. The only noticeable feature that was his father's was the nose which was often called classical Greek. Bella just loved her mate's nose which made him look even more handsome in her humble opinion so she was glad that at least a few of her sons had inherited it.

"The next baby out of Bella's womb was another boy that we decided to name Trey Luke," said Bella as she got up and passed Trey around. "Trey means three and he is the third son born out of this pregnancy so we both thought the name was appropriate."

Trey like his older brother Troy had a mixture of blondish brown hair, and looked almost exactly like Bella instead of like both his parents, which only made sense since he was the second of a set of fraternal quadruplets.

"So what did you name the next baby and was it a boy or girl?" asked Peter as he cuddled two of his own children close to him. Peter and Charlotte's children were twice the weight of the octuplets, but then again their was only four of them instead of eight so that had had a lot to do with it.

"It was a girl, and we named her, Chloe Leah," said Bella as Gabriel presented a beautiful baby girl with the beginnings of Troy's and Trey's blondish brown.

"The next one to come out of Bella's womb was another girl, who we named Meredith Claire," said Jasper presenting a beautiful baby that of course looked more like Bella then him. All four of the quadruplets despite being fraternal all looked basically alike, except for the obvious difference between boys and girls.

"Now here are the final two, both boys, but they are also something of an anomaly," Jasper said as Bella brought forward one baby and Trevor the other.

"Why do you say they are an anomaly?" asked Peter in surprise.

"Because of the beginnings of red hair they both possess," Jasper explained. "I know that these boys are both our sons, but where the red hair came from considering I have blond and Bella brown I don't have a clue."

"I think," Bella began slowly as she looked at her redhaired sons, "that my mother had red hair, bright red if I remember correctly and that might have something to do with it because that would mean I have the gene for it. The funny thing is though that I have read that the redhaired gene is recessive and both parents have to have that particular gene to get a redhaired child."

"Are you sure that you don't have any redheaded in your family tree somewhere?" Charlotte asked Jasper curiously.

"I really don't know," Jasper admitted. "I don't remember very much about my past, as you know, but I do know that neither of my parents had red hair as both had different shades of blond.

"So it is possible that there is a redhead somewhere in your family tree probably, just three or four generations back and that is where the gene came from," Charlotte suggested.

"That's a possibility," Jasper admitted. "In any case we decided to change the first names that we were originally going to give them to names that mean red or redhaired since their birth was something of a surprise or at least it is where their hair color is concerned."

Everybody laughed at the way Jasper said that as the humor lacing his voice was obvious for all to hear.

"So what names did you decide on?" asked Patrick looking curious as he had not known that his parents had decided to change the names of his youngest siblings.

"Well Rory, which means red king and Rowan, which means little red one," Jasper explained.

"They are unusual names I know," Bella admitted, "but Jasper and I felt we had to acknowledge the fact that both twins were born with red hair, when the odds were astronomical that it wouldn't happen even if both of us do have the red haired genes somewhere in our family trees."

"And what middle names did you choose?" asked Gabriel, wondering if the middle names were going to remain the same.

"Oliver as a middle name for Rory and Benjamin for Rowan," Bella said.

"You know while Rory's and Rowan's hair is indeed red, but it's more of a copper red like a penny instead of a true red or at least that is what it looks like from the little bit of downy fluff that will eventually be replaced with real hair," Charlotte commented.

"That's because I have brown hair and since brown is the most dominant color after black the two colors mixed and made our sons hair a reddish brown instead of a pure red," Bella explained. "It isn't really all that unusual a color as there are people all over the world that have it."

"So what did you name you four sons?" asked Bella as she and Jasper switched babies so they could both have time with each of their children.

"We thought Keiran was a good first name for the oldest. It means dark and since all our sons seem to have gotten their father's black hair the name seemed appropriate." Charlotte said.

"You should have expected your children to get Peter's dark hair simply because black hair is dominant over any other color. Unless one of his recent ancestors had the recessive blond gene, it goes against genetics for them to have your blond hair."

"Yes I guess it does," Charlotte agreed who had read all the same books that Bella had.

"You picked an unusual name, didn't you? Then again we don't want a name that a thousand other people have, do we Char?" asked Bella.

"Nope, especially not for the firstborn," Charlotte agreed with a brilliant smile looking so happy she was practically glowing. "As for a middle name we thought Jasper would be good."

"You named your firstborn after me?" asked Jasper looking astonished although why he was surprised considering he had done the same for his firstborn boy and girl was a mystery.

"Of course just like you did for us," Peter said. "You are after all family and if you hadn't been right when you said having two vampires with the same first name when they see each other often would be to confusing it would have been his first."

"And what about the second born?" asked Bella giving Jasper a chance to recover from Peter's words. She knew exactly how her mate felt and she was sure that if Charlotte and Peter had had a little girl her middle name would've been Bella after her, but since it was all boys that just wasn't possible.

"We thought Gareth Owain for the second born," said Peter.

"Another unusual name," Jasper said.

"They can always shorten it to Gary or go by Owain if they don't like it," Charlotte said, with a shrug, "but personally I love it as it's a lot better then Tom, Dick or Harry which thousands of other people have."

"That's a very true statement," Jasper admitted, "Bella and I also tried to give our children unusual names so that they weren't quite so common, but also ones that actually meant something."

"I think you were very successful in that endeavor," Patrick told his father. "My name is more common then most of the names you came up with, but is still not that common, unless you are actually in Ireland where the name originated."

"For the third, we thought Kellen Brady and the fourth Tristan Roald," said Peter.

"You do know what happened to the Tristan in King Arthur, don't you?" asked Gabriel.

King Arthur was still one of the triplets favorite books, right along with Robin Hood. They were classics and and classics never got boring or old, but were retold again and again down through the generations.

Jasper and Bella's new sons and daughter started crying again as if they all were the same timer and were making quite a racket.

"I guess it's time to feed them again," Jasper said with a laugh looking incredibly cheerful for someone who had the wailing of eight baby vampires to satisfy. "I have a feeling they are going to have to be fed just about every hour and a half to two hours, like preterm human babies do."

"They aren't very preterm as they were only a few weeks early, which is probably only because I stayed in bed for the last month. I believe that the reason they need to feed so often is because like most multiples they are severely underweight and if a human woman had gotten pregnant with that many babies, most of them if not all of them would more then likely not have survived out of the womb, especially if they were born very preterm."

"I'm sure in a few more decades medical technology will have advanced enough to save many of the babies that are born as multiples, but technology just isn't there yet at this point in time," Jasper said.

"It's a very good thing that you had us bring all those humans from town," Patrick said.

"Always plan ahead," Jasper told his sons. "Despite how relatively easy your births and growing up were, I still wanted to have a lot humans on hand since Charlotte was also pregnant and it's a good thing I did because Bella ended up having more children then I thought one womb could contain. Human beings after all are not like dogs or any other animal that have multiple babies all the time as a matter of course. A woman's womb isn't meant to contain more than two or three babies at a time and of course singletons are the most common and for good reason. Really if you think about it anything except a woman being pregnant with a single baby is considered by some people to be an abomination and unnatural at best."

"And since all of us, well except the children, were once human that means we weren't meant to have so many children at one time like an animal," Bella said.

"Of course technically vampires aren't really meant to have children at all," Peter said, "really we all just got lucky when you found that old shrine and the goddess Artemis just happened to have a magic necklace and were nice enough to give it to you to help you out with that."

"I'll always be grateful for that luck or whatever made us go off the beaten path that day in Greece," said Bella. "Now we had better see about feeding this ravenous bunch, before they bring down the whole house with their cries. All our children sure do have good sets of lungs considering I was only pregnant for three and a half months which in human terms would be very, very premature I consider that a very good sign."

"I'll go get four humans from the wine cellar," Peter said as he put one of the babies down in one of the cradles and the second one down in the cradle right beside his brother. The cradles were off to the side of the living room in a row and wouldn't be able to be used for long as vampire babies grew fast and they would soon be to big for the cradles. Jasper and Peter in their spare time had carved the six wooden cradles and they all stood off to one side of the living room all lined up as neat as you pleased and allowed at least some of the babies to be put down and give the parents or whoever was holding them a rest.

"I'll help you," Jasper told his brother.

"So how are you going to tell your sons apart, since they are identical?" asked Bella curiously. "Also I hope you know just how rare identical quadruplets are. They are much, much rarer then identical twins or fraternal quadruplets."

"You know that's a good question how are we going to tell them apart at least until they develop their own distinct personalities?" asked Peter as he headed to the kitchen to go down to the wine cellar Jasper following to start getting humans for all the children to feed on.

"Different colored clothes?" Charlotte suggested. "We could put Kieran in blue, Gareth in red, Kellen in green and Tristan in black," Charlotte suggested.

"That's not a good idea, Charlotte," Bella said shaking her head. "I'm sure you remember how Paddy, Gabe and Trev kept busting out of their clothes until they stopped growing and if they had been identical we would have had a very hard time telling them apart. I'm sure these babies will do the same and grow fast. We need to figure out something for your four and for our identical red headed boys or we are not going to be able to tell them apart just like you won't be able to tell your boys apart."

"We'll think of something, but here let me help you take these little guys outside to the garage so they can feed," Charlotte said taking two of the children from the other two cradles where they had been placed after putting down her own children.

Bella nodded grateful for the help and she, Charlotte, Patrick, Gabe and Trevor carried the eight wailing babies out to the garage and arrived just as Jasper and Peter got there and dropped four humans onto the concrete floor.

The babies started crying even louder after hearing the human heartbeats and Jasper did the same thing Peter had done earlier and slashed all four humans throats enough for the blood to start trickling out, but not enough to drain the humans of their blood at a fast pace. He then also slashed the artery in one of the wrists as well so that two of his children could feed at the same time. If truth be known probably at least four of the children could feed off one adult at the same time and between them drain the human completely, but neither Jasper or Peter had thought about that, when they had brought up so many humans for the eight children to feed off of.

He would have think more logically in the future and they could have saved themselves a couple of humans for later draining by one of his family.

When he had been down in the cellar with Peter there was still over 100 humans down there, who wouldn't last more than a week with so many vampires in the house if that much, especially not when a dozen of them were still growing and would be for a year. Once he and Bella's children as well as Peter and Charlotte's were finished their growing they would be down to maybe fifty humans between all the vampires in the house every two weeks. It was a very good thing that there was so many humans in the world or he and his family could decimate the human population in no time. Of course the Volturi had at least as many vampires as they did in their guard and Jasper was sure that them having such a large family would make the three kings want to kill them off so that they would never be a threat to their rule, but they wouldn't be able to do it with their current numbers as if Jasper remembered correctly there was only about thirty vampires in the guard and not all of them had special powers. Also the Volturi got their meals by luring tourists from overseas into their castle and it was unfortunate that they couldn't do the same thing, but not only would that be copying the Volturi a little to closely for his liking, the three kings were bound to hear about it eventually and all of them were trying to stay under the radar for their safety. Besides that also meant children who came with their parents would have die as well and neither Jasper or his family would never sink so low as to kill children, unless absolutely necessary even if the Volturi did. It was a good thing though that Jasper had taught his family to never hunt in the same section of the city and to even go to other nearby cities to get themselves meals to keep the police from getting suspicious about the disappearances of so many people, even if it was the poor, criminal, the bums and even some middle class folks for that meant they spread out their killings, not that the police were likely to care if the kind of people his family fed off of disappeared to never be found, but still being careful was a way of life.

"There, all done?" asked Jasper rhetorically scooping up two of his sons when it looked like they were all finished with their meal.

The two boys who had gotten much bigger in the last few hours just cooed contently no longer wailing at the top of their lungs and Jasper took that to mean that their throats had stopped burning and that their bellies were full for the moment.

Jasper just chuckled at his sons lack of response and kissed their cheeks lovingly. "You're daddy's big boys aren't you?" Jasper cooed at his two sons before passing them to Bella so she could give them baths and get them dressed in some of the clothes that had been bought for them.

Bella took them into her arms cuddling them close to her and headed inside talking softly to her sons all the while.

"I never knew you had it in you to be so gentle and loving," Peter told Jasper not in his usual joking manner, but deadly serious coming over carrying two more of the babies a girl and boy this time, which Charlotte took from him before she headed into the house to give the children their first baths.

"Every person has it within them to be this way and sometimes it just takes the right set of circumstances to bring it out in a person. Meeting Bella, then saving her life started that change in me and now having a family of my own is completing my transformation, which I know I have you and your talent to thank, even if you brushed it off when I tried to tell you how grateful I was," Jasper told his brother as he watched Charlotte disappear into the house.

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean," Peter admitted. "My past doesn't matter anymore."

"Exactly," Jasper agreed, "Just because I have learned what love means does not mean I will not fight furiously to protect my family, it just means that I will live every day to the fullest instead of just drifting through it like some kind of wraith, like I was doing before Bella came into my life."

Jasper scooped up two more of his children into his arms when it looked like they were done feeding and said, "Well I had better take these little guys in so that Bella and give them a bath. You know how she is about cleanliness even though they can't get sick."

"Charlotte, is the same way," Peter said. "I don't really know why it matters, but I'm also not stupid enough to argue with her. Maybe it's just a woman thing."

"So are you going to set up trust funds for your quadruplets?" ask Jasper. "I certainly plan on setting up bank accounts for my brood, just like I did for Paddy, Gabe and Trev."

"That's a good idea," Peter agreed. "How much did you put into the bank accounts for Patrick, Gabriel and Trevor?"

"$1 million...each," Jasper told his brother, "and I plan on doing the same for these eight, just as soon as I can manage."

Peter whistled in appreciation. "Man, that's a lot of money."

"It is," Jasper agreed, "but on the other hand it isn't like between Bella and I that we don't have 100 times that and economic times are tough right now. Things will only get more expensive in the next decade or two and considering that our children will live forever I just like the fact that I have given them a little financial security so that when they finally do get out of there they don't have to worry about money. Also I have taught my three older sons how to invest so that they always have plenty of money coming in."

"Those are some very good points," Peter admitted. "I will do the same then and Charlotte and I will teach them how to invest their money wisely so that they never run out. Oh by the way you did know that Charlotte and I were going to name you and Bella has a godparent's to our sons, didn't you?" Peter added.

"No I didn't," Jasper said not surprised. "In this case though I'm not really surprised for who else do you know that you can trust with such a huge responsibility? Or at least someone who is a vampire anyway?"

"No one," Peter said. "Vampires live rather solitary lives for the most part." Peter looked at the two children who were still feeding and said, "It looks like your family is just about done."

"Yes," Jasper agreed and just as he finished speaking the two remaining children detached themselves from the humans and Peter immediately scooped them up into his arms.

"Let's take these little guys inside," Jasper said, "and once we have done that we need to come back and finish draining whatever the children didn't finish and then get rid of the evidence."

Peter nodded and the two men headed into the house carrying the four children.

Peter was sure that his own sons would soon be wailing for their own dinner in just a matter of hours and so they would be doing this again very soon.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

150 years later

The Whitlocks were living just outside of Los Angeles on a very large estate away from the main human population.

It was now the 22nd century and Los Angeles was just the latest place that the Whitlocks were living in a long series of them as they had to move every decade or so.

In the last century and a half it had gotten much easier to communicate as well for whenever the family was not altogether. Cell phones of the later 20th century had changed to communicators that could be worn like a wristwatch and finally to very small handheld communicators that could be held in the palm of your hand and talked into.

The doorbell rang just then and Jasper got up to answer it making sure to slip in his colored contacts as he did so. Wait a second he didn't hear a heartbeat on the other side of the door so that meant a vampire, nor did he detect any human scent. Jasper prepared himself to defend his family if he must.

"Can I help you...?" asked Jasper as soon as he opened the door tense as as a steel bar.

"My name is Lindsey Amelia Silva and this is my brother Gerik Franco Osborne. We were wondering if we could come in? We were traveling for quite some time and we would just into town when we smelled your scent all over the place.

Jasper accessed their emotions and body language decided that they were being honest and that they were just drifting through the area when they smelled the vampire scent all over town and tracked it back to them.

"Welcome to my home," Jasper said. "My name is Jasper Whitlock."

"Thank you," Gerik said speaking for the first time. "This is quite a nice place you have here."

"Thank you for the compliment on my home," Jasper said politely. "Come meet my wife and mate. Bella, love, we have company."

Lindsey looked around the home and noticed how very nice it was and she began to wonder how a vampire could have so much money in order to buy a place like this. The only explanation was that Jasper had got his hands on some money somehow and then invested which meant that he was probably very old.

Bella came out of hers and Jasper's bedroom from upstairs when Jasper called and said that they had visitors and prepared herself to be polite to their vampire guests. She just hoped that their company didn't want to cause trouble, because she and Jasper and their family had just gotten settled into this house a couple years ago and she really didn't want to have to move quite so soon.

Bella came downstairs and into the den where Jasper and his guest were and sat down beside her husband. "Lindsey, Gerik this is my mate, Bella."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Bella leaving Jasper's side long enough to shake the other two vampires hands. "What can my husband and I do for two nomad travelers?"

"Well as Lindsey was saying that we smelled your scents all over this area and tracked it back here as we were madly curious why we smelled so many vampire scents in the same area," Gerik explained.

"You're curious enough to confront possibly a whole coven of vampires that could very easily tear you apart?" asked Jasper in astonishment. "Most of our kind would avoid meeting such a large coven, especially when there are only two of you."

"You're right most of all time would avoid confronting such a large coven not without plenty of backup anyway," Lindsey agreed. "I'm afraid that curiosity is one of my strongest traits and I was just too curious to leave it alone."

"It's also gotten us into more trouble than you can possibly imagine," Gerik said with a roll of his eyes. "A lot of times we barely escaped with all our limbs intact."

Bella laughed liking these nomads immensely and Jasper also seemed to relax a little when he realized that they didn't mean to cause any trouble for him and his family.

"Why don't you to stay with us for awhile," Bella offered after looking at Jasper who nodded.

"We would be glad to stay in one place for awhile and not just drift from town to town," Lindsey admitted looking around the den noticing the 160 inch tv with plenty of movies in a separate glass case of their own and a player that was attached to the tv.

If the den was this spectacular then Lindsey couldn't imagine that the rest of the house wasn't the same.

Lindsey was a very pretty young woman who did look more than 25 with long straight black hair, a plump bottom lip, a thinner top, porcelain skin, which was expected, red eyes, again expected, plump cheekbones, thin black eyebrows, a nose that had often been called patrician and firm chin, which usually meant stubborn and not at all weak-willed.

As for Gerik he was the exact opposite with blazing red hair in a messy mop, fleshy nose, wider set eyes that were also rounder then his friend's as Lindsey's were more slanted and firm chin. Also he looked to be about thirty when he had been originally changed, which was unusual as most vampires were changed between sixteen and twenty-five, not all of them of course, but a very large percentage.

"Let me show you and Gerik to a room," Bella said after they had been talking for awhile. "Rooms," Gary corrected. "Lindsey and I are not together just kind of like a brother and sister as we've known each other forever."

"Rooms then," Bella said not at all perturbed at being interrupted. "I'm sure the two of you would like bathes and a change of clothes."

"I'm afraid we don't have any other clothes," Lindsey said looking in embarrassed, "although bathes do sound good."

"I have a daughter that is just about your size and her clothes should fit you well enough until we can get you some of your own," Bella said. "Also I have a son that is just about Gerik's height and I'm sure Trevor wouldn't mind letting Gerik borrow a couple of changes of clothes until we can get both of you some of your own."

"No that's okay," Lindsey said her pride coming to the fore. "We'll be happy to borrow your daughter and son's clothes, but you don't need to buy us any as we won't be here very long."

"I thought my husband made it clear that you two will welcome to stay as long as you like," Bella said, "and believe me he doesn't say that to just anyone as he has sent more than one group of nomads packing, when it was clear that they were nothing but trouble. Jasper is very protective of his family and when one of those nomads tried to force himself on one of our daughter's he did more than send him packing. He tore him apart and burned the pieces with the help of our sons who are very protective of their sisters and so did I."

Both Lindsey and Gerik shuddered at that, but on the other hand they could hardly blame the man since a guest in his home had tried to rape his daughter. Those nomads had been idiots if they had really thought they could get away with it in a house full of vampires with very good hearing, which they should have known, considering they had been vampires themselves.

"Don't believe that Jasper can only be violent," Bella told Lindsey and Gerik calmly. "Jasper really is one of the nicest, gentlest men I know vampire or not, but just like any other man or vampire he can be violent when the situation calls for it. And wouldn't you execute someone with extreme prejudice when one of your children was attacked and nearly raped?"

"Yes," both Lindsey and Gerik answered immediately and indeed they would have with absolutely no regrets whatsoever.

"Here is your room Lindsey," Bella said opening the door to a nice room that was absolutely humongous with a door off to the side that Lindsey figured led to the bathroom. "Why don't you take yourself a nice, hot bath and some clothes will be waiting for you when you emerge."

"Thank you," Lindsey said and would've been in tears if she could cry.

"You're more than welcome," Bella said as Lindsey disappeared into the room. "Gerik your room is right across the hall," said Bella walking a little way down the hall and opening another door.

"Thank you for your hospitality," said Gerik like Lindsey feeling overwhelmed at the Whitlocks generosity and hospitality.

"You're welcome," Bella assured him. "Whenever you're ready why don't you Lindsey come downstairs and meet the rest of the family?"

"Okay, we'll do that," Gerik promised looking a little apprehensive at meeting the rest of the Whitlocks, which Bella could hardly blame him for as all of her family together could be more than a little overwhelming, even to other vampires.

Gerik opened the door to his room and disappeared inside and as soon as the door closed Bella headed back downstairs to spend whatever time alone she can get with a husband.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"So what makes you think that these nomads on going to be just as much trouble as the last three we had visit us?" asked Patrick of his father who was very protective of all his sisters.

"Trust me," Jasper said. "There is nothing in their emotions or body language to indicate at all that they are anything more than the simple vampire nomads just drifting from place to place."

"Paddy, give them a chance and if they do abuse our trust we will simply do what we did to the others that did that," Bella suggested gently.

"Very well then," Patrick said giving in with a sigh, "but I will be keeping a very close eye on them for at least the first month or two just to make sure that they are what they say they are and they don't mean us any ill."

"And I will be doing the same," Jasper assured his son, "but I really don't believe that they are here to cause any trouble and that Lindsey was just curious about all the vampire scents she and Gerik detected in town."

"It still seems strange to me that two nomads would approach such a large coven just because Lindsey was curious about the vampire scents."

"I thought that was strange too," Jasper admitted, "as most vampires will avoid such a large coven, especially with so few numbers, but I didn't detect any deception from them at all and I was paying very close attention to their emotions I assure you."

"Alright," Patrick finally gave in knowing that his father's talent was nearly infallible as it was very difficult to change your emotions as whenever you lied they gave you away even if you were an expert liar and since Lindsey and Gerik had absolutely no idea idea about his father's talent it was even more impossible to lie.

"Now be on your best behavior I believe that they are on their way downstairs now," Jasper said as he detected the two strange vampire scents getting closer.

"I'll go warn the others," Patrick said. "I believe most of them are out of the pool playing water polo."

"You do that as we will be bringing Lindsey and Gerik out to meet all of you," said Bella giving her son a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Gerik and Lindsey finally came into the den and Bella immediately noticed a change in both of them as they were clean and in fresh clothes. Gone was the dirt and grime that one picked up from traveling out in the open without access to basic necessaries, like water and soap.

"Now you look so very much better," Bella said as she inspected them noticing the the clothes from two of her and Jasper's children fit the pair relatively well, although Gabriel's jeans, were a bit long in the leg for Gerik and the shirt from he other son Trey was a bit tight thanks to her son being a little broader of shoulder.

"We certainly feel better," Gerik said. "It is so good to be clean. The only problem with being a nomad is you really don't have access to amenities."

"Then why be you nomads it all?" asked Bella curiously.

"Because we don't have the money to be anything else," Gerik said without an ounce of shame.

"We refuse to be thieves for anything except clothes every once in awhile so that we don't look out of place when we go into a city.

"So when were you two changed?" asked Jasper.

"For me it was the late 16th century, although I don't remember the exact year," Lindsey said. "All I really remember is being in incredible pain for I don't know how long and when I finally woke up I was alone and the pain gone so I wandered for awhile totally disoriented. I had absolutely no idea what I was until I came upon human by accident and attacked her killing her by breaking her neck and then draining her dry without really realizing what I was doing. When I was done I felt better then I had in I don't know how long and I realized that my throat had quit burning."

"You woke up and nobody was there to tell you what you had become? That you were now a vampire and that now you wouldn't be able to consume anything but blood?" asked Bella in astonishment.

"No," Lindsey said shaking her head, "I'm afraid not. All I remember is waking up in a forest quite alone. I'm not even sure where that forest was located as I wandered around in a daze for quite some time."

Jasper didn't seem at all surprised by Lindsey's story and that might have been because he was aware that that could happen and did a lot whenever a vampire was interrupted at his meal as most vampires were not deliberately created.

"That does happen, quite a bit actually," Jasper told his wife. "It's actually usually the way that a new vampire is created, not always of course, but mostly. It happens if a vampire is interrupted at their meal for example and if left undisturbed a human that has had vampire venom injected into them will turn into one of the undead in three days. As you know vampires are mostly solitary creatures, or at most they travel in packs of two to four, of course they are exceptions to every rule, like us."

"So what's your story, Gerik?" asked Bella.

"My story is probably just as dramatic as Lindsey's is," Gerik said. "I was turned into a vampire sometime in the late 18th century around 1760 or so. I was the middle son of a duke and from what I can remember I could never do anything right in my father's eyes. My father had at least five other children mostly boys although there was at least one sister. I was the one that always got blamed when something went wrong as my father always accused me of everything, especially when there was no visible culprit. I caused a lot of it I suppose by being something of a rebel and bucking the system so to speak and I did get in awful lot of trouble. A duke's son was supposed to maintain his reputation and I remember that I had quite a way with the ladies. I don't think it was so much that I had a way with the ladies as it was to the fact that I didn't stay with the ladies of my station. A good son is supposed to be discreet if he does take up with those of lower rank than himself and I was anything but subtle I'm afraid."

"You're still about as subtle as a train through a brick wall," Lindsey chuckled.

Gerik just rolled his eyes at his sister. "I have gotten better, you have to admit that."

"A little," Lindsey told him with a teasing smirk. "A very little."

"You should give credit, where credit is due," Gary told his friend with a smirk of his own. "Anyway the night I was changed I was coming home from a pub I frequented as it got me out of the house and away from my father for a few hours. I remember on that particular night it was dark and very stormy, with the rain coming down in sheets. I headed home and I was about his drunk as could be and still be vertical. I had decided to walk despite the weather hoping that I wouldn't be quite so drunk by the time I reached home, only I didn't make it as something rushed at me out of the dark from a nearby alley. Suddenly I felt that something grab me and bite me in the side of my neck and I still couldn't see who it was, and in fact I couldn't even see the hand directly in front of my eyes. All I knew was that I was in incredible pain and that I felt as weak as a day old kitten. I'm not exactly sure what happened after that just the my attacker was suddenly gone and I was laying there trying not to scream from the pain I was in. To this day I have no idea how I managed to crawl into a building that was closed for renovation or how I even managed to get the door open, but I laid there on the floor for three days trying not to scream so that nobody would come and investigate the sounds and find me. What happened after that is very blurry, but I do know that when I had finished transforming into what I was very confused about what had happened, but that I could see better in the near dark then I could ever remember seeing before and also that my that my throat was burning fiercely."

"So what happened after that?" asked Bella fascinated by Gerik's story.

"Well I vaguely remember waiting for night and then sneaking through the streets. I'm not sure what I was thinking at that point, although I remember thinking that if I didn't do something about the burning in my throat I was going to be driven insane."

Both Bella and Jasper could very well sympathise with that statement as they to had felt that burn in their throats when they didn't eat often enough and also both remembered being changed and the fierce burning in their throats then.

"I got to the edge of town and I just happened to run across a man on a horse coming back from some kind of business trip. I remember he was very well dressed and even though I was a duke's son and knew tons of people the same rank or a little below, I didn't recognize this guy so he wasn't in my father's immediate circle of acquaintances."

"Let me guess, this guy you ran across never made it home to his family," Jasper suggested dryly knowing very well what would have happened to the man that a newborn vampire ran across on accident and not actually having had any blood at all until then.

"You got it," Gerik agreed. "I kind of jumped out in front of his horse without thinking about what I was actually doing. I was more animal then man at that particular moment in my life and I had the man off his horse and my teeth in his throat in seconds, while the horse ran away neighing in terror. When I was done draining him I realized what I had done and I immediately thought of myself as a murderer because before this I had never even thought about taking a human life. It took me awhile to realize that I was no longer human and that I had been transformed into something else, although I wasn't sure exactly what until I had been a vampire for almost a year."

"The two of us just happened cross paths about 11 months or so after he was changed," Lindsey said speaking for the first time ever since gay and started telling his story. "We hit it off immediately and we have been best friends, almost siblings and ever since."

"Lindsey, helped me realize what kind of life I had fallen into just because I decided to walk home that night instead of catching a cab."

"Did you ever try being a couple?" asked Bella just a little curiously.

"We did try for awhile, but we finally realized that we didn't have romantic feelings towards each other and also that we're just to different for a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship to ever work," Lindsey said.

"We're good as friends, and even like siblings, but boyfriend and girlfriend…?" Gerik shook his head.

"Well I think it's time that you meet the rest of the family," Jasper said. "They're out at the pool playing water polo or at least they were an hour ago."

"Lead the way," Lindsey said and Jasper led them out the front door and off to the side of the house where the pool was located.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"Everybody why don't you coming great our guests Lindsey and Gerik?" Bella called to all her children who were playing in the pool.

"Yes mom," all the children who weren't really children at all as they were all grown up said stopping their game and climbing out of the pool.

"Lindsey, Gerik, meet our family," Jasper said. "Patrick Charles, Gabriel Peter, Trevor Malcolm, Melodie Charlotte, Bryon Franklin, Troy Joseph, Trey Luke, Chloe Leah, Meredith Claire, Rory Oliver, Rowan Benjamin, Alanna Hermione, and Gavin Derek." The last two children mentioned had also gotten the brownish red hair just like Rory and Rowan. "I'm afraid that my two youngest daughters Brianna Lenore and Angelina Heather aren't here right now as they are in town, but they should be home soon."

Gerik and Lindsey both gaped in surprise for when Jasper had talked about a family they had figured it was just some humans that he and Bella had changed into vampire's in order to have a family of their own, but not only were their thirteen of them or fifteen if you counted the missing two, they all looked almost exactly like Jasper and Bella, which meant that they really were their children, which should have been impossible.

"How..." Lindsey began when her eyes fell on one of Jasper's and Bella's children in particular.

The eyes of Lindsey and Trey met and both felt an instant connection in just that one look.

Jasper and Bella who were paying particular attention to the interactions between there guests and their children immediately noticed how both their son and Lindsey were entranced in each other's gazes.

"Were you expecting this?" Bella asked Jasper softly watching her son and Lindsey.

"No," Jasper answered just as softly, "how can you really expect something like this?"

"You really can't," Bella admitted, "but that means that Lindsey and Trey are mates and are going to have to stay together or will be very unhappy."

"What worries you, love?" Jasper asked feeling the worry coming from his wife, which was not only in her emotions but her voice as well.

"I'm worried that Lindsey will take Trey away, I mean permanently not just when they go on a trips on their own and stuff."

"You need to quit worrying about things like that," Jasper told his wife his tone gently chiding. "We raised a very strong son and he would never allow such a thing to happen and I don't believe Lindsey would do that in any case. From what I can feel from Lindsey she is not that type of person although she is curious how we could have children at all considering that vampires are not supposed to be a able to, which one can hardly blame her for."

"That's only natural," Bella admitted. "I don't mind telling the story of how we had children at all now the Volturi have been dealt with anyway."

The Volturi had been sent packing about 50 years ago. Both Aro and Caius had come along with most of their guard to see if the rumors about the Whitlocks was true and what they had discovered shocked the hell out of them. Really there was no law against having children naturally and the evidence was right before their eyes. When Aro asked how it was done and was told about the necklace and how it was acquired he had been astonished as he had never encountered any such thing in his 2,000 years. Of course Aro had never done much traveling and only really left the castle in order to deal with the disturbances and the breaking of vampire law so he really didn't know how much the world had to offer.  
Caius of course had been all for exterminating the lot of them as he considered every single Whitlock, bar Jasper and Bella abominations that needed to be destroyed. Jasper's anger had been a terrible sight to behold and he had started to turn into the Jasper Whitlock that had been Maria's top warrior during the southern wars. The only thing that had prevented Caius from being torn apart and the pieces immediately burned had been Bella who had calmed him down just by touching his hand and asking that they talk about the subject rationally. Even though Bella had been calm the look she had given Caius had been filled with such loathing and warning that even the Volturi king had shrank back a little in fear. That look had also said that she would fight to protect her family so Caius had better watch his step if he wanted to escape alive.  
Also all the children who were all grown up at that point had been trained to fight by their father so the Volturi would have quite the battle on their hands and it would be a battle that the two kings who were there were not sure they could win or at least not without grievous losses on their side.

Caius had then demanded the necklace so that he could at least have a child of his own with his mate who was standing at the back of the guards along with Aro's as mate's could be more than a few hundred miles apart at most and they were thousands of miles from Italy. Jasper had told Caius very calmly that Artemis had ensured that the necklace would have no power for those that the Whitlocks did not trust completely and that is was just a pretty bauble otherwise and Caius had been enraged at that, but Aro who had shaken Jasper's hand and read his memories at the same time told his brother that it was true and that the necklace would do them no good.

Caius then wanted the necklace destroyed so it never be used again and the Volturi had tried to do just that, but had not succeeded as everything they tried, bending it until the metal broke, crushing it, and even tried to melt it, which had done no good. The Volturi had even tried to take the necklace with them in order to do tests on it and as they were walking away whoever was holding the necklace at the time found themselves in such incredible pain that their was absolutely no choice, but the return the necklace to the Whitlocks or continue to suffer the curse of Artemis.

Finally the Volturi had left in defeat as they really had no grounds at all to prevent Jasper and Bella from having another hundred children if they so desired, not that they did as they thought the fifteen they did have was plenty. They might want some more children someday, but not anytime soon. They had plenty of children even if only half of them or less lived with them at any one time while the rest were out traveling the world and living their own lives.

They did all get together for a month or two at least once a year and all of the children were always visiting at one time or another no matter where Jasper and Bella were living at the time. It made Bella sad that all her children didn't live with her and Jasper year around, but she did understand that her children needed their own lives and that she had no right to tie them to her as that would just make them resent and even hate her and she wouldn't be able to stand that as she loved every single one of her children so much. Besides to not let a child grow up and get out on their own caused a ton of problems and all of their children had been raised to be independent and responsible adults.

Jasper and Bella watched as Trey shyly introduced himself to Lindsey and how Lindsey reacted looking all embarrassed by lowering her head and shuffling her feet in a rather nervous reaction, which were sure signs that she was indeed nervous even if she couldn't actually blush.

"Hey I'm Trey," said Trey also ducking his head shyly.

"And I'm Lindsey," Lindsey introduced himself.

"Would you like to go for a walk?" asked Trey a little hesitantly.

"Sure," Lindsey said immediately taking Trey's hand in her's when he offered it. The two of them walked off together ignoring everybody else and disappeared quite rapidly.

"What just happened?" Gerik asked watching as his best friend and almost sister walked off with Trey Whitlock before anybody else could. "Lindsey never trusts anybody on first meeting like that and yet she took your son's hand without a second thought."

"His name is Trey and he and your friend are mates," Bella explained.

"Mates?" asked Gabriel in astonishment. "Are you telling me that my little brother has found his mate?"

"That is exactly what your mother is telling you and I want your promises right not that none of you will interfere in their relationship, is that understood?" asked Jasper his voice soft, but stern and demanding.

"Yes dad," answered all of Jasper's children although Patrick and several others did not look entirely happy with the situation. It wasn't that they didn't want their brother happy, quite the opposite, but Patrick in particular wasn't sure if the nomads could be trusted, not after what had happened with one group of nomads just 20 years ago, but his father's word was law. Besides he knew that to try to break up mates was not only against the law it would make his father and mother angry and break their trust in him, which he could not allow.

Besides Trey deserved to be happy and if Lindsey was really his mate his little brother would be miserable without her and he didn't want that. He was just going to have to find some way to accept the situation.

Jasper turned to Gerik and said his tone no longer stern or commanding when he spoke, "I know I can't demand that you not interfere in your friend's and my son's relationship, but I'm asking that you don't."

"I would never do that," Gerik assured Jasper. "Lindsey's happiness means a lot to me and if she is happy then so am I."

Jasper nodded knowing that Gerik was being very sincere and said, "Thank you. You are also welcome to stay permanently if you want and you can always come and visit if you decide that staying isn't an option for you. Lindsey is now a Whitlock or she will be soon and that includes you since you are her best friend."

"I'll have to think about it," Gerik admitted surprised by the offer.

"Think about it is long as you like," Jasper told him, "there is no time limit and you will always be welcome no matter what you decide."

"Thank you," Gerik said.

"You're welcome," Bella assured him. "Now I believe everybody was playing water polo so why don't you get back to that?"

All the children knew that was actually a very politely worded command so they hastily continued what they had been doing while Bella and Jasper walked back inside Jasper's arm around his wife's shoulder.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

Lindsey and Trey walked together hand in hand in the woods that were part of the Whitlocks property simply enjoying each others company.

"So tell me about yourself and once you do that I will tell you about me," Trey suggested.

"Well there isn't really much to tell," Lindsey began a little hesitantly and told him the same thing she had told his parents. "So I've been curious how a vampire actually had children as it is supposed to be impossible," Lindsey asked a little hesitantly, which was very unlike her, but she was still somewhat in shock at the instant connection she had felt with Trey the second their eyes had met and how close she already felt to him and they had not known each other any time at all yet although it felt as if she had known him forever.

"It's really a very strange story," Trey began. "My parents, before any of us were born, or even thought of were traveling in Greece. It was 1950 and both collectively decided that they didn't want to just go to the ordinary tourist attractions, but really explore the country and so ended up pushing through some very thick trees and brambles in a forest. Eventually they came to a clearing and saw a marble altar that was covered in moss, brambles and fallen tree branches. They cleaned it off, and both have admitted, that to this day they still aren't sure what compelled them to do so, and the goddess Artemis appeared before them in order to thank them. For their help she granted them their deepest desire and that was to have a family since she was the goddess in control of childbirth, as well as the hunt and several other things, she gave them a moon necklace and told them that all Bella had to do was wear it when they made love and she would get pregnant, which indeed happened and my three older brothers Patrick, Gabriel and Trevor were born in just three months, which is much faster then a normal human pregnancy. The first time that they discovered that Bella was indeed pregnant they knew that the pregnancy would go very fast thanks to the vampire genes and the fact that mom looked hugely pregnant within hours of our conception. Also Artemis had warned them that every time Bella got pregnant she would not just have one child but several. Our parents have told us more then once that the first pregnancy was kind of an experiment as they didn't know if we would be uncontrollable or not and if we had been they would have destroyed us even though it would have killed them, because our kind cannot afford for humans to find out that we are real. Once they saw that we were pretty normal, except for the fact that we were all grown up within a year and looked five at three months old and ten at six months, well you get the point I'm sure. While our bodies grew rapidly our intelligence grew even faster and even though we were given toys to play with they grew very boring just months after they were bought because our understanding of the world around us grew so fast. Both our parents had a hard time keeping up with the rapid advancement in our understanding, especially with my three older brothers since they had no idea at that time that our knowledge or our bodies would grow so fast. In any case even through we looked all grown up, like we are now, at a year old, we had not yet learned how to control our bloodlust around humans and so dad started training us to do that at just six months old I might add or at least that was the way it was for me and my siblings, but dad didn't start training the older three until they were a year old. It was three years later once our parents were sure that my older brothers were done growing both in brainpower and in body when they decided that they wanted to have more children and so all the rest of us were born."

Lindsey listened in fascination as Trey told her about how he and his brothers and sisters had been born.

"Will that necklace work for any female vampire?" Lindsey asked.

"No," Trey said immediately causing Lindsey to look disappointed. "It will only work for someone that my parents trust absolutely which is a good thing as we been confronted by the Volturi about fifty years ago and they tried their best to get the necklace for themselves."

"What happened?" asked Lindsey and Trey told her about how the necklace had burned whoever was holding it until they took it back who it belonged to. "It will probably work for you and me though if we do decide we want children, someday."

"Whoah!" Lindsey exclaimed. "Aren't we getting a little ahead of ourselves?"

"Maybe a little," Trey admitted, "but you do know that we are mates and that's why we both felt that instant connection the moment we looked into each other's eyes, don't you?"

"I know," Lindsey admitted, "but I think we should spend at least a little time getting to know each other better, before we make love and definitely before we discuss children, not that I object to having a few somewhere down the road mind you."

"I believe mom and dad are thinking about having a few more now that all of us are all grown up. Most of us don't live in the same house anymore or our parents would never think of having anymore considering that having too many vampires in the same area is not a good idea as that would deplete the human population way too fast and get us noticed."

"Yes, having too many vampires in the same area would definitely do that," Lindsey agreed. "I think your parents are being very smart about the whole thing. Spread out how often you have children and get one batch out of the house before you consider having anymore."

"We do come back to visit fairly often and stay for a month or two, before we're on our way again. Also my parents move often every 10 to 15 years actually because even if we don't go into town much since we can order most of what we need and have it delivered, we still do go to the movies, the shops, the theater and other places sometimes. Even vampires need entertainment and sometimes it is very hard to keep yourself from being bored if you do the same things too often so we always have to find new things to keep us busy."

"To true," Lindsey agreed wholeheartedly.

"My parents were definitely considering having some more children because it's been about 110 years since my three sisters and one brother was born," Trey said.

"Fraternal quadruplets?" asked Lindsey astonishment.

"Yeah and in fact as you know my oldest brother are triplets, nonidentical and I am the third one born, out of eight. I believe the term for that is octuplets."

"Your parents had eight children at one time especially in the early 20th century? Your mother could have died from having so many and then your father would have to. Technology wasn't exactly very advanced back then, not like it is today anyway."

Trey shook his head in denial. "No don't worry dad never would have allowed my mother to get pregnant at all if he believed that she would die because as much as he wanted a family he could live without having children, but not without his mate. In fact dad asked Artemis that very same question that was it possible for my mom to die and apparently some gods and goddess can see into the future and she assured both my parents that Bella would not die from having children and that she would be fine within hours of giving birth just so long as she had plenty of blood, which has turned out to be true as my father made sure that there were always plenty of humans on hand to not only feed his mate, but to feed his children once they were born. Also I and none of my siblings were born with the numerous defects that can happen to a human fetus especially when there is more than one baby in the womb as our parents vampire genes prevented that from happening."

"That really is an amazing story," Lindsey said.

"I'm glad you think so," Trey said as he put his arm around her shoulder in which Lindsey did not protest and in fact moved a little closer to Trey.

"So I was curious where you kept all these humans that I'm guessing your family kidnapped out of whatever town you were living near and how did you keep them alive until they were needed?" asked Lindsey.

"That's easy," Trey explained with a wicked smile that made Lindsey wild with desire although she tried not to show it. "Every single house we own and we have quite a few all over the world, has either some kind of very big root or wine cellar order to keep the humans in. In fact one of the houses we own in Scotland is actually a castle and it has a very large dungeon just like all castles do."

"You have that much money that you can own house and mansions all over the world?" questioned Lindsey in amazement

"We do have a lot of money," Trey admitted, "all of us actually, what you have to realize though is that my father was one of only three to survive the southern wars way back in the late 19th century and his creator could be very generous with the loot that was taken and my father along with my Uncle Peter were her two favorite officers. Even though both of them were created to fight in a war for feeding territory she did give them a lot of the loot that was taken and then they invested it as soon as they could so that Maria couldn't ask for it back, which she was known to do. Also it helps that my Uncle Peter has a talent of just knowing things and nobody has any idea where he gets his information including him, so he never makes a bad investment thanks to his talent and he of course advises us on what would make a good investment."

"Everybody has heard of the southern wars," Lindsey said amazed at the family she and her friend Gerik had literally fallen into, "and you're telling me that your father and uncle are two of the ones that survived?"

"Yeah and lets not forget my Aunt Charlotte who is my uncle's mate as she was the other vampire to survive the southern wars. In fact it was dad who helped Peter and Charlotte escape when it was time to kill off the newborns after their strength waned."

"You have one amazing family," Lindsey told Trey sincerely.

"Thank you, me and my siblings certainly think so," Trey answered giving Lindsey a little hug.

The two of them walked on not needing to say anything to understand each other which was pretty amazing considering they'd only known one another for a couple of hours, but this was the way it always was with mates. Mates didn't need years to get to know each other as they just seemed to have deeper understanding of how the other thought right from the first moment they met.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" asked Trey suddenly breaking the silence.

Lindsey looked startled, but then wondered why she hadn't seen this coming for they were mates after all and mates belonged together.

"Yes," Lindsey answered him after a moment. Trey looked relieved and Lindsey said teasingly, "Did you really expect me to say no?"

"Well, I wasn't sure to tell you the truth is since we have only known each other for about an hour half at this point," Trey said looking a little abashed.

"But why would you be uncertain?" asked Lindsey "We are mates after all and I haven't felt this close to anyone in well—ever. It's true that Gerik and I are like siblings, I do love him and we're very close, but I feel much closer to you then to him, which is astonishing considering we've known each other for several hundred years."

"I'm not saying I haven't had relationships with other vampires because that would be a lie. I met others either while traveling or nomads who stay with us for awhile, so although I have been in relationships before with you it is totally different as I actually want our relationship to go well and I thought maybe I had blown it by asking you to be my girlfriend this soon as we did just meet."

"No, you didn't blow it though it was kind of sweet how you seem to be so unsure of yourself as from what I have observed you in just the very short time I've known you have plenty of confidence."

"In any other situation you would be right as my parents trained all the children well on how to defend themselves and things like that," Trey answered, "but since I've never been this serious about a girl this was a little different."

"I suppose," Lindsey agreed after a moment.

"Why don't you and me have to go out on a date?" asked Trey still sounding a little uncertain. "We can go hunting together and I can show you all my favorite places to pick up prey and then maybe we could go to a movie or the theater or something like that."

"That sounds good," Lizzie said, "I've never had much money in order to do that kind of thing so it should be fun."

"I'll have to introduce you to all my favorite activities and we can go to the tv room and watch some of those movies and tv shows that the whole family has collected over the years."

"That sounds good," Lindsey agreed. "I will admit that Gerik and I did sneak into the movie theaters in whatever city we were in just to see some movies we really wanted to over the last couple of centuries."

"I probably would've done the same thing if I didn't have much money," Trey admitted with a chuckle. "Luckily that's never been a problem for my family thanks to wise investments, which is a good thing considering how many of us their are."

"That's true," Lindsey agreed. "If all your brothers and sisters find mates and want to have children of their own that could soon be hundreds or more vampires running around that weren't made in the traditional fashion. It isn't like there isn't already a lot of you as it is."

"No only 25 of us," Trey said.

"How do you get 25?" asked Lindsey curiously as she remembered meeting 13 children, plus Jasper and Bella, which would be 17 and the youngest two that Jasper had mentioned so that would be 15.

"You forgot to count my Uncle Peter and Aunt Charlotte and they have six children of their own. Uncle Peter and Aunt Charlotte are Whitlocks and are part of the family. They come to visit often and their children come visit as well often by themselves since they are also all grown up."

"How can I count if I didn't know that your Uncle Peter and Aunt Charlotte even had children?" asked Lindsey laughing.

"I guess you're right," Trey admitted also laughing. "At the time my parents started the project Uncle Peter and Aunt Charlotte were the only two vampires that my father trusted completely to loan the necklace to. The necklace won't work for anybody that my father and my mother don't trust 100%."

"So you said," Lindsey said as she and Trey continued to wander around the Whitlock property arm in arm.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"Trey and Lindsey sure have been gone an awful long time," Bella commented idly as she and Jasper sat alone in the den just cuddling together.

"Did you really expect anything else?" Jasper asked as he laid with his legs stretched out his head on Bella's lap.

"No," Bella admitted. "It will kind be nice to get another daughter, but on the other hand I'm kind of sad to be losing one of my sons."

"We won't lose him," Jasper assured her. "Really this is just a normal progression. After all sons and daughters get married, move out, get lives of their own all the time and if you were human it would only be natural for it to be difficult to let one of your children go. Besides you need to think of it as gaining another daughter instead losing a son."

"I'll try," Bella promised, "but it's hard letting the children get out on their own to travel the world or do whatever they want when I don't see them sometimes for months and years at the time."

"Yes, but you talk to them at least weekly," Jasper said, "and I know that helps. Both of us are just going to have to realize that children all grow up and we can't keep them tied to our apron strings if we don't want them to resent us."

"I realized that a long time ago," Bella said with a melancholy sigh, "which is why I try not to interfere in my children's lives unless they come to me and you with a problem. Now to deliberately change the subject, I know both of us have been thinking about having a few more children now that ours are all grown so what do you think about the idea?"

"Well it has been over 100 years since we had our last batch," Jasper admitted deep in thought, "and you're right it has been a long time since we had any children because at the time we decided that they would devastate the human population, but now that all of them were out on their own we have this big place all to ourselves and we still have plenty of empty rooms so I don't see a problem with having three or four more do you? The reason we decided before not to have anymore was because most of the children were staying close to home and not getting out on their own and too many vampires in one area as you know will totally annihilate the human population in a very short amount of time no matter how large it is."

The human population had almost tripled in the last 150 so they were in no danger of running out of food, which was a very good thing, especially when your whole family were vampires and most of them drank human blood.

"Yes, I know and that's why all vampires coven stay relatively small like no more then 6 or 7 members maybe 8," Bella said wondering where Jasper's thought processes were going with this. "We have to remember though that three of our children have decided to drink animal blood instead human and they've been good about maintaining that diet for the last 50 or so years."

"True and that helps not deplete the human population whenever they are visiting," Jasper admitted. "Of course we also have to move somewhere there is a forest within at least a couple of hundred miles so they can go hunting."

Jasper for one was still amazed that some of his own children who had traveled some of the world had decided only five decades ago that they would no longer kill humans for their meals, unless a situation came up that they were forced to do that and had switched to animal blood. Jasper couldn't really blame his children for not wanting to kill humans as he had to forgive himself on a regular basis for killing what used to be his own species after all.

He and Bella had tried animal blood out of curiosity and it wasn't to bad really, especially the meat eaters, but there was absolutely no comparison with human blood. It was almost like eating expensive, exquisite chocolate for thirty or forty years and then trying a cheap piece after so many decades eating the best chocolate money could buy. The difference was like night and day, which was why he and Bella were still drinking human blood and so were most of their children. Besides drinking animal blood still left a slight burning in the back of the throat no matter how much you gorged yourself and Jasper knew that it would be very hard to learn to ignore, especially when you were used to not having that burning at all.

Jasper and Bella had gone out of their way to assure their three children that they were still loved and that they understood their decision to not drink human blood, which they did and what had caused Alanna, Meredith and Gavin to all make that decision on their own for their separate reasons they didn't know and none of the children in question were talking. Meredith or Merry as she was often called was from the second pregnancy while Alanna and Gavin had been born forty years later along with their two sisters who still drank human blood and had refused to switch.

"I think having a few more children is a very good idea, I mean we've had triplets, octuplets and quadruplets, now we just need to have quintuplets, sextuplets, septuplets and twins to have a complete set," Bella joked.

"We are not going to have another twenty children," Jasper said laughingly.

"Why not?" asked Bella. "We do live forever and so long as we don't have them all together and they are out on their own before we have the next batch why not? Besides scientists are pretty close to making synthetic blood and it's supposed to be just as good as the real thing, we could always have the children drink that instead of always hunting humans."

"You would never get any of our children to agree," Jasper said laughing.

"Why not at least try it and we all don't have to stop hunting completely, you know. It's just that if this stuff is really like human blood it would be easier to feed our large brood. We would still teach them to control their bloodlust, how to hunt and everything they need to know to survive the life of a vampire."

"We'll give it a try if and when the scientists perfect it," said Jasper giving in knowing that Bella could be very stubborn and wouldn't stop mentioning it until he did. "How will we be able to get our hands on the recipe though as I'm sure it's going to be under heavy security at a lab somewhere."

"We'll think of something, we always do," said Bella with complete confidence. "Besides I'm sure eventually the recipe will become general knowledge in the medical community at least and it will be much easier to get access to it then so that we can mix up our own."

"You're right," Jasper said, "we can always steal a copy if we have to, memorize it, then return it and no one will ever know that it was taken at all."

"Exactly. We need to at least give this synthetic a try and if we don't like it we can go back to hunting humans, but as I said before we can still hunt humans just not as often as we have been doing if we had this synthetic. Now back to the subject of having more children..." Bella said.

"I think it's a fine idea, although I do think 20 is still too many even if it was spread out over the next 2 or 300 years," Jasper said. "For one thing no house even a mansion is going to hold 35 children at the same time," Jasper said.

"But they won't be here all of the same time," Bella said.

"They will when they come home for the holidays, like Christmas," Jasper said.

"That's true but did you think we could always build on?" asked Bella. "We could buy the materials and build a section on each of our houses ourselves and that would not only save us money but from having strangers on our property while we're there curious about why we have so many children and we can't even make them disappear as it would kind of be obvious if we did that so soon after having them there building on. Wait here's a better idea, we can hire some workmen to build onto the mansions we aren't occupying that way they don't know why we want to build on just that they are getting paid and why I didn't think of that before I don't know."

"That's a pretty good idea," Jasper admitted. "We can discuss that later though as I believe it's time to start on our next batch of children, don't you agree?"

"Yes, I believe you're right, just let me put the necklace on and we can get started," Bella agreed huskily kissing Jasper's nose before rising from the bed not bothering to get dressed and going over to her jewelry box that Jasper had given her and taking out the crescent moon necklace putting it around her neck, where it began to glow softly, almost magically.

"I love you," Bella said turning back to the bed with the moonlight streaming in the window making her whole body seem to be surrounded in a soft glow.

Jasper had a hard time breathing as he watched his wife approach the bed with the moonlight from the window making her skin glow softly. She was absolutely the loveliest most, exquisite creature he had ever seen in all his existence and he was absolutely positively sure that would still be true even 1000 years from now.

"I love you too," Jasper told her as he took Bella into his arms and begin to kiss her all over her face before starting on her lovely breasts and that was how they spent the next few hours making love over and over.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

A week later

All of Jasper's and Bella's children had been told the news that their mother was pregnant again and Bella was already showing a lot, of course this wasn't unusual as she always showed within hours of getting pregnant thanks to the vampire genes, which caused the fetuses to grow at such a fast pace.

"So how many new brothers and sisters do you think you're carrying this time?" joked Trevor.

"I don't know and it's not like I can go to a doctor to determine that," Bella told her son. "My stomach is smaller then when I had the octuplets and bigger than when I had the quadruplets so I'd guess five or six."

"That's pretty accurate," Trevor agreed remembering how big his mother's stomach was for each of her pregnancies except the first when he and his brothers were born.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Bella added patting her stomach lovingly.

"All of us can't wait to meet new brothers and sisters," Trevor said as he gave his mother a careful hug because he didn't want to squeeze her to tight because of her stomach.

"And how do our guests feel about this?" asked Jasper coming into the room.

"They seem okay with it, although they also find it a little fascinating," Trevor told his father.

"Which is only natural since it's supposed to be impossible for a vampire to have children and yet we have 15 and are about to have more," Jasper said.

"This will probably be the last batch though," Bella added, "because as Jasper pointed out no house is big enough to hold but so many people at the same time and besides I eventually want grandchildren from Trey and Lindsey and Gerik and Brianna."

"And what if Lindsey and Trevor, Gerik and Brianna decide they don't want any children at all or do not want to take the risk?" asked Trevor.

Brianna and Gerik had come as something of a surprise to all of the assembled family members. Brianna and her sister Angelina had gotten back from shopping within a few hours and Gerik had been having fun with the Whitlock children, while Lindsey and Trey were still off on their own getting to know each other, Gerik had just been climbing out of the pool to sit in one of the lounge chairs when Brianna and Angelina had come into the pool area to join their siblings and their eyes had met almost by accident. It had been an instant connection between the two and both had looked dazed even after they'd managed to tear their eyes away from each other.

"Then we will of course not force them," Jasper said looking at his wife's sternly. He would have loved grandchildren too but he wasn't about to force a choice on his son and daughter and their mates. "Not everybody wants children you know."

Bella nodded looking resigned and disappointed. "You're right, I won't force them, although I do hope that someday they do decide to have at least a child or two."

"They probably will, but we will be patient and not badger them," Jasper said.

"So what are your plans for today?" asked Bella of her son changing the subject deliberately, causing Jasper to shoot her an amused look.

"Nothing really," Trevor said with a shrug. "I thought I would spend some time in town hunting me up a meal and then maybe go to a movie. Unlike Trey and Brianna I don't have a mate to spend time with. Also maybe I'll see if some of the others want to go with me just to get out of the house for a few hours."

"Sounds like a plan," Jasper told his son giving him a pat on the back. "Enjoy yourself."

"I will," Trevor promised.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

2 months and 3 weeks later Bella went into labor quite suddenly, although no one in the house was really taken by surprise as they had been expecting it to happen at anytime.

"Come on Bella, come on my love," Jasper urged as he stood beside Bella as she lay on the bed. "You can do it. It should be easy by now considering how many children we have had together."

As soon as Bella's water had broken Jasper had rushed his mate upstairs as fast as possible without using vampire speed.

As soon as he had gotten his mate settled he had called the others that were either in the house or outside so that they could prepare. Lindsey and Gerik had been particularly fascinated not that Jasper could blame them, but he didn't really have time to think about their reaction at the moment as almost every bit of his concentration was on his wife, the love of his existence.

That had been over an hour ago though and now the first baby's head was crowning and Jasper rushed to the end of the bed so he could catch his son or daughter as they emerged from Bella's womb.

"Come on, my love, just one more push and our a son or daughter will be here," Jasper his voice just a little commanding, but not quite in major mode.

"Ughhh," Bella grunted, doing as Jasper demanded her hands gripping the bed sheets she was laying on so roughly that she ripped through the material.

"That's excellent!" Jasper praised his mate as one of the babies Bella was carrying in her womb slid out of her birth canal.

"We have a son, love!" Jasper exclaimed as he handed the little boy off to his oldest son who was standing in the doorway. Patrick took his new brother gently and headed downstairs knowing what had to be done.

"You need to feed?" asked Jasper as Bella continued to push down every time she had a contraction.

"Yes," Bella said. "You know how it is when I'm pregnant and giving birth."

Jasper did indeed know how his mate was when she was pregnant so he had been prepared and had one of his sons bring up four or five humans that were laying unconscious in a crumpled heap next to each other on the other end of the room.

"You want me to wake him up for you?" asked Jasper.

"Yes," Bella responded immediately as soon as her current contraction passed. "You know I like it much better when they're awake and aware of what's happening to them. If they're unconscious it just isn't the same as if they're struggling as I'm draining their blood. There is something about the fear and terror they smell like when they realize that they're looking at their deaths and that their short, worthless, fucked up lives are about to end even sooner then they normally would have, and that they are about to meet their maker or will go to hell where they belong. I might not be able to feel their emotions like you can, but I can certainly hear their hearts begin to beat frantically and smell it coming off them."

"I agree," Jasper approved. "It is much better if they are all awake and struggling so you can feel their fear and terror. The humans we feed off of anyway deserve exactly what they give their victims and some times I think that just draining them is to kind."

Just then another contraction hit Bella and Jasper ordered immediately getting back to business, "Push, my love! Push! Come on you can do it, my mate! Push! One more push and we should have another son or daughter."

Bella pushed and the second baby slipped out of her head first without any trouble and Jasper was there in order to catch them.

"We have another son!" Jasper exclaimed his voice very happy as he wiped his second son clean of the fluid, that had allowed to slip so easily out of Bella's birth canal and then biting through the umbilical cord before passing him off to Brianna who was standing in the doorway.

Brianna took her new brother gently and disappeared downstairs in order to get him fed, just as Patrick had done a few minutes ago.

It was just over an hour later when Bella pushed down one final time and expelled the three afterbirths and lay back looking tired.

"Here you go, my mate," Jasper said dragging two human over to where Bella lay in bed with her back against the headboard ignoring their struggling as if it didn't really matter, which it didn't.

"Thanks," Bella said gratefully giving Jasper a kiss before taking one of the struggling humans from her mate and bit down on the side of his neck right on the pulse point.

"You know I would do anything for you," Jasper told her as he watched her drain the human.

"I know, just as I would do for you," Bella said as soon as she had drained the human man dry.

Jasper handed Bella the second man without comment and Bella immediately bit down into the man's neck.

"So ready to go to officially meet our children?" asked Jasper as soon as Bella finished feeding

"Yes," Bella replied immediately tossing the now drained corpse aside. "Just let me take a quick shower and then I'll be ready to go."

Jasper nodded and while Bella got clean he changed the sheets on the bed and threw the other ones out since they were covered in venom and blood and would never come completely clean again.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"So what have you decided to name these six?" asked Angelina, holding one of her new brothers. It was half an hour later and all six of the vampire babies had fed and were being held by various members of the family.

"Well we did come up with some extra boys names just in case since evidence suggested and was proven we always had more of them then girls so..." Bella paused then continued, "...the oldest will be Xander Theodore, the second born will be Kian Samuel, the third Trace Shane, the fourth Sawyer Colin and the fifth Quin Lochlan."

"And for the one and only girl?" asked Bryon asked.

"Callisto Lindsey," Jasper said calmly and only because he had been prepared for the shock coming from Lindsey was he able to prevent her emotions from overwhelming him.

"You named your daughter after me?" asked Lindsey in astonishment, touched.

"Of course we did, Lindsey. You and Gerik are part of the family now and just as much a daughter and son to Jasper and I as the ones that were conceived from our love. We would've used it as a first name except it would have been too confusing with two people with the same name in the same house."

"And unfortunately your name doesn't really have any variations like Isabella and Peter do that are different enough to avoid confusion," Jasper added.

"I'm honored," Lindsey said sniffing a little although no tears actually fell and Trey put his arm around her shoulders giving her a hug.

"We also want you and Trey to be the godparents," Bella said. "Tell us that you'll do it."

Lindsey was stunned for a moment and then asked "Are you sure you trust me with such a huge responsibility? Isn't there anyone else you trust? I mean you've only known me for less than six months after all."

"Of course we're sure," Bella assured her. "You are part of the family just as much as any of our children. We trust you just as much as we do any one of our children as you've proven yourself worthy of that trust."

"Alright then," Lindsey finally accepted still stunned at how the Whitlocks thought of her.

"Good," said Jasper approvingly proud of the way that Lindsey accepted the responsibility.

"Congratulations sis," Gerik said coming forward and giving Lindsey a hug.

"Thanks," Lindsey said still looking a little stunned.

"Yeah, congratulations," Patrick said coming forward and also giving Lindsey a hug. Over the last few months he and Lindsey had had to learn to trust each other, but finally they had formed a very tight friendship as they were similar in many ways and Patrick had gotten over his apprehension that both Lindsey or Gerik were trustworthy as they had proven time and time again that they were.

"Thanks," said Lindsey as she accepted her namesake from him cradling the Callisto to her chest tenderly.

With Patrick's congratulations it was as if a floodgate had opened and every single one of Jasper's and Bella's children came forth to congratulate Lindsey on the honor of that had been bestowed on her and it was sometime later that Lindsey was able to escape outside were it was relatively quiet.

Even after living with the Whitlocks for the last few months Lindsey still wasn't used to being around so many people whether human or vampire for so long as she was used to having just Gerik for company.

She did love having a family though, especially one that was so close, but she also needed her space and since she knew that Jasper and several of his children were the same way she knew the Whitlocks respected her need for privacy and quiet time on occasion.

"You okay, love?" asked Trey as he came from inside the house to stand beside her.

"I'm fine," Lindsey assured him taking his hand in her. "I just needed some time to collect my thoughts and there wasn't much chance of doing that inside. I know you understand as sometimes you need time to be by yourself as well."

"I do understand," Trey said knowing exactly what his mate was talking about. "Sometimes you just can't think with so many people around and with vampires its 10 times worse since our hearing is so much better then a human's."

"Exactly," Lindsey agreed, as Trey put his arms around her, which she fit into perfectly, which she had noticed on more than one occasion. They were almost like two pieces of a puzzle snapping perfectly into place. It felt so right to be in his arms almost like she was never meant to be anywhere else.

"Shall we find some other place to be where there aren't so many nosy and interfering siblings around, not to mention parents?" Trey suggested with a wink and a smirk in Lindsey's direction.

"Sure," Lindsey said and would have been blushing a little if she had been able to for Trey had that kind of effect on her, the kind of effect that made her feel like a teenager secretly crushing on a boy, although her feelings were hardly a secret in this case and it definitely wasn't a crush either, but true, ever-lasting love.

Trey smirked in satisfaction and the two of them headed away from the house hand in hand in order to find some much needed privacy so they could be alone.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"Dad, mom, can I talk to you? Alone?" asked Bryon.

"Of course, honey," Bella said getting from where she was sitting in a chair watching TV. It was a month after Bryon had met Scott and Bryon felt it was time to reveal that he was gay to his parents, although he still wasn't sure what their reaction was going to be.

It was almost ten years to the day that Lindsey and Gerik had shown up at the Whitlocks door and in all that time Bella and Jasper had both noticed that Bryon unlike the rest of his siblings seemed almost isolated and very lonely no matter how many people surrounded him at the time, whenever he was around that is and not out traveling the world.

In fact Bryon could often be found all by himself, when he was home, just sitting somewhere seeming to be thinking about something and even when he was asked what was wrong he always brushed that person off.

Come to think of it though he had cheered up considerably in the last month or so and Bella now wondered why that was. She had a feeling of that she and Jasper were about to find out why Bryon had gone from lonely and isolated to more cheerful although he had still seemed rather isolated, even if he didn't seem quite as lonely anymore.

"What's bothering you Bryon?" asked Jasper as soon as the three of them had reached his study and closed the door. "Whatever it is you know you can tell us. You should know that you can tell us anything and we will not judge you and try to help you solve whatever problem you are having."

"I know," Bryon said looking at his feet refusing to meet either of his parents eyes.

"What's been bothering you so much?" asked Bella. "You have been so isolated and lonely for 10 years now, whenever you are home that is and not traveling, although you have cheered up tremendously in the last three or four weeks you've still seemed rather isolated," said Bella. "Whatever happened to my always happy son? The one that could make a joke out of almost anything?"

"He's still here, mom," Bryon assured Bella still looking incredibly serious. "I've just been kind of trying to figure out how to tell you something for the last few years that's all."

"And what has prevented you from telling us about whatever has been bothering you?" asked Jasper looking concerned. "Bella's right that you have been looking unhappy for almost a decade now. Every time anybody tried asking what was wrong you brushed them all off, but I figured you would tell us when you were ready and it appears that that time has come."

"I'm sorry I've been so disagreeable over the last few years," Bryon said sheepishly wondering why he had worried about telling his parents that he was gay as he knew very well that they would accept it and not see anything wrong with him liking other men instead of women. The only reason he was telling them now actually was just in the last month he had met someone that he knew was his mate, but the problem was that this man was human and he needed some advice on how to proceed.

"Bryon, whatever you have to tell us there is no reason to feel ashamed or embarrassed," Jasper told his son coming around the desk and sitting on the edge.

Bryon took a deep unnecessary breath and then said still looking at his feet, "I'm gay."

Neither one of his parents said anything for a few minutes and then Bella asked getting up off the couch and coming over to put her arm around her sons shoulder, "Was that so hard to say?"

"Reasonably hard, yes," Bryon admitted finally looking up from the floor thinking he was extremely glad he had been right about his parents reactions to his announcement, "as I know very well how a lot of society views people who are gay."

"Bryon the way that human society views being gay is not the way that the vampire world sees it is totally different," Jasper told his son still sitting on the edge of the desk. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a homosexual whether human society accepts it or not, although humans are a lot better about that in this century then when I was born or even when Bella was born. One of the reasons the human race is so against it is the fact that back when we were born getting married and having children was almost a requirement if you wanted to be looked at as an adult and that was doubly true for women. Not to mention it goes against what the bible preaches. To a vampire though it doesn't really matter since normally we can't have children and in any case most humans conventions don't mean a damn thing to our race since we live outside of society and see humans as food."

"Why didn't you tell us before now?" asked Bella. "There was no reason to make yourself so miserable for the last decade you know. You should have come to us years ago, because you have been going from your usual happy self to miserable quite frequently in the last ten years."

"Well I wasn't sure how you would react when I told you," Bryon admitted looking down at his feet again. "That's one of the reasons I put it off for so long."

"How did you discover you were gay?" asked Bella avoiding the question she really wanted to ask for the moment.

"It was almost an accident really," Bryon admitted finally looking up from his feet. "It was about fifty years ago and I was in town to go to a movie and maybe hunt a little, when I came across these two men having sex in an alley. At first I thought that they were attacking each other, but then I realised that that was not the case. I was about to walk away, but I seemed to be riveted to the spot and I discovered that I was absolutely fascinated with how they were fucking each other. I knew that in all the decades I had been in this existence that I had never found women in the least bit attractive, or seen them as anything other than friends, but I had always figured that I just hadn't met the right woman yet and it never occurred to me that I might be gay, not until then anyway."

Jasper nodded and hopped off the edge of the desk to put an arm around his son's shoulder. "There is nothing wrong with liking other men instead of women, son and I'm glad you finally decided to tell us, but I believe Bella and I are going to have to have a little talk with the rest of our children individually since it is very likely that at least one or two of them feel the same way you do and just haven't said anything for fear of our reactions."

"Why do you think that any of the other's feel like I do?" asked Bryon in genuine surprise.

"Because I read somewhere that it is believed that at least one out of seven people are gay and that statistic is still true for vampires. Considering how many children Bella and I have produced it seems likely that at least one of them besides you like the same sex," Jasper explained.

"And even if they are all sure that they are not homosexual or at least bisexual it is entirely possible that when they find their mate they will be the same sex," Bella added as she came over to give her son a hug and a kiss on the cheek, which Bryon accepted with pleasure relieved that his parents still loved him.

"We will always love you, son, never doubt that," Jasper told him almost seeming to be able to read Bryon's thoughts although actually he was just reading his son's emotions and not the actual thoughts in his head.

"I'm happy you finally got up the courage to tell us," Bella added, "but just remember from now on that you can come to me or your father about anything and we will never judge you or think any less of you."

"I will," Bryon promised looking happier then he had in a very long time.

"So what has suddenly made you decide to tell us now?" asked Bella knowing there must be a reason and she suspected she knew what that reason was, but she wanted to have it confirmed.

"I met someone," Bryon finally admitted finally looking into both his parents eyes. "I'm positive we are mates but Scotty's human and I have no idea how to proceed."

"So this man's name is Scotty?" asked Jasper.

"Well, Scott actually, but he goes by Scotty," Bryon answered.  
"What's this man's last name?" asked Bella, curiously.

"Blackwood," Bryon answered immediately. "It's Scott Nathaniel Blackwood."

"When did you meet him?" asked Jasper next.

"About a month ago," Bryon answered.

"How did you meet him?" asked Bella.

"Well there's this club downtown that I sometimes go to for a meal," Bryon explained. "It was almost an accident really as he was sitting at the bar having a drink and I had just come in the door. Our eyes met and the rest as they say is history."

"You were pulled to him, correct?" asked Jasper already knowing the answer as he could feel his son's emotions.

"Like a moth to a flame or a magpie to something shiny," Bryon confirmed. "It is very difficult to be away from him even for a few days. In fact every time we touch sparks of electricity dance along wherever our bare skin is touching."

"Does he know of your interest?" asked Jasper looking pleased at Bryon's description of what happened when they touched for the sparks definitely proved that they were indeed mates.

"Yes, we've been getting to know each other although I haven't told him what I am as I figured it would be better if I did that here. We've been meeting at the club where we first met and occasionally we go to a movie. We've been dating exclusively for the last three weeks and we've done quite a few of things together. Scotty is a bartender at a bar uptown and we've met there a few times to, through we don't get to spend much time together since he has to work."

"So what does he know about you?" asked Bella.

"Almost everything except for the fact that I'm a vampire that drinks human blood in order to survive or anything related to that."

"Isn't he in the least curious as to why you never seem to eat or drink anything?" asked Jasper.

"Yes, he is as I can feel how curious he is." Bryon unlike his other brothers and most of his sisters had gotten his father's empathic talent, although some of his siblings had gotten other special talents as well.

"And he hasn't pried?" asked Bella in astonishment.

"No he says he is willing to wait for me to tell him what it is I am concealing, because he trusts me. I know he is drawn to me too although to a lesser degree then I am, which is probably also why he is willing to wait."

"Yes, I agree. Have you had sex yet?" added Jasper, seriously.

Bryon would have blushed if he could have for normally he was a very private individual when it came to his love life, but on the other hand he really needed some advice.

"No," Bryon admitted squirming suddenly uncomfortable. "We've both wanted to and we have done some things, but we haven't gone all the way."

"That's good, because it is very likely that you would hurt him with your strength, especially if you have never had sex with a human before," Jasper said his approval clear.

Bryon didn't bother to tell his father that he had had sex with plenty of humans in the past just to relieve his pent up sexual tension. It had never meant a damn thing though, so he had never bothered to experiment to see if he could fuck a human without either killing them or at least injuring them severely. He now wished he had though so he and Scotty could really have sex and not just makeout heavily like they had been doing, but how could he have known that he was going to meet his mate and he would be human?

"I knew that so no matter how much I want to go farther I asked him to wait until we know each other better before we make love for the first time. He was surprised by my request as most people have sex on the first date, but was willing to go along with it for awhile anyway."

"I think it is time that you bring him home to meet the family," Bella said and Jasper nodded in agreement.

"Also I think it would be best if most of your siblings were elsewhere until your Scott is aware of what we are since you all look basically the same age," said Jasper.

"Not to mention how would we explain the fact that Jasper and I have so many children when neither one of us look over thirty?" Bella added.  
"As to that I think it best that you tell them that I am your older brother and don't tell him that you are mine and Bella's son," Jasper suggested. "We look enough alike that it should be believable and you can explain the real relationship once he knows what we are."

"I'm way ahead of you dad," Bryon told his parents. "I've already explained to him that I was living with my older brother and his wife along with my twin sister Melodie. Since Melodie and I look so much alike I felt it was better to not deny the relationship since I knew they would meet at some point. I didn't mention any of the other family figuring we could explain about them later once he was in on the secret."

"Good," Jasper said giving his son a pat on the shoulder in approval causing Bryon to stand up a little straighter as his father's approval meant a lot to him.

"So what does this Scott look like?" asked Bella with a raised eyebrow just a little curious as to who her son had fallen so hard for.

"Well he looks around the age I appear to be," Bryon began, "except he's 23 where I don't look anymore then 20 or 21. I told him I was 21, although from his emotions he had a hard time believing that because I look so young. His hair is as black as a raven's wing, long and shaggy, sticking up in the back. He's often told me more then once that no matter what he does to it, it still looks all wild as he refuses to use hair gels and says that it's to much trouble to wash out. Personally I think he leaves it like that on purpose just to drive both men and woman wild as it certainly makes me want to run my hands through it almost all the time and it is very hard to resist doing that. He has eyes of a gray so light that in certain lights they look almost silver and is about 6'1', tall and slender, but with fairly broad shoulders, very trim waist and long legs. He also has a very thick Scottish accent and sometimes people have trouble understanding him, but I never have and I'm not sure if that's just because my vampire hearing picks up the sounds better or because I've traveled some in Scotland and know how they sound."

"It's probably a little of both," Jasper said. "Vampires do have much better hearing then a human, but if you hadn't been to Scotland and stayed for awhile so you know how they form their words when they talk you would probably still have had a little trouble understanding him when you first met."

"Also he is very intelligent and tends to put things together quickly," Bryon added.

"We're looking forward to meeting him, so make sure you bring him by sometime in the next couple of days," said Bella. "Just make sure you call first, so the others won't be present, except for Melodie when he gets here."

"Most of them are traveling right now anyway, except for my sister, Trev, Merry, Chloe, and Gav," said Bryon.

"And the house has seemed kind of empty with only the six of you coming and going, even though I know I can't expect all of my children to stick around all the time," said Bella.

"I would think you and dad would appreciate the privacy," Bryon snickered.

"Watch it you," Bella playfully scolded her son wriggling a finger at him.

Jasper and Bryon laughed and after a moment so did Bella. "Yes, your father and I do appreciate the privacy," said Bella shooting her husband a seductive look, "but we also like spending time with all our children, especially since we never thought we could have a family."

"I would think you would eventually get tired of one of us interrupting you," Bryon teased.

"Never," Bella protested. "We love all of you to much to ever be angry at any of you. Well at least not for very long," Bella quickly amended since it was impossible to not be angry at one of her children at least sometimes.

"So when do you think you'll be able to bring Scott by?" asked Jasper.

"Sometime in the next week or two," Bryon said glad that this conversation was over for it had been very embarrassing and hard to reveal to his parents that he was gay even though it had gone well. "I'll set it up and let you know."

"Very well then," Jasper said clapping his son on the shoulder again, "but if that is all Bella and I need to go have a talk with each of our children that is home."

"We really can't wait to meet Scott and welcome him to the family," Bella told her so giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Just one more thing, son," Jasper said before Bryon could leave his study.

"What's that dad?" Bryon asked, curiously as well as a little nervously for he had a feeling he knew what was coming.

"When you do bring him by to meet us are you going to go ahead and tell him that you're a vampire and that your whole family are vampires? Or are you going to wait awhile?" asked Jasper.

"I don't know, dad," Bryon asked looking incredibly nervous. "I'm afraid of how he will react to the news. What if he doesn't want anything to do with me?"

"You can't put off telling him for to long. If he is in any way as intelligent as you believe him to be then he will figure it out and he will either run or will be so mad at you for not telling him that will cause problems that you could have avoided," said Bella looking sympathetic. "Yes, telling your Scott that you are a vampire is scary and that you drink human blood is even scarier, but you know very well that it has to be done."

"Also you know the laws as well is we do and once he finds out he doesn't have a choice but to be changed," Jasper reminded his son. "Well, that or die and since I know what him dying would do to you he will have to be changed whether that is what he wants or not."

"I meant to ask you, does Scott have any family that will be worried if he disappears?" asked Bella. "You know, brothers or sisters parents cousins, nieces or nephews, really anybody that he is close to that will care if he just ups and vanishes?"

"That is a good question, love," Jasper approved causing Bella to smile at the approval in Jasper's voice.

"He does have parents and at least a couple of brothers and sisters," Bryon replied, "We don't need to worry about any of them though."

"Why?" asked Bella curiously.

"Because not only do they live in Scotland, his parents disowned him when they discovered that he was gay and none of his siblings or other family dare communicate with him in any way for fear of being cast out as well. Apparently Scotty's parents are very uptight and couldn't stand to have a son that didn't like women and wouldn't eventually get married and have offspring of his own. In fact Scotty told me that they had actually arranged a marriage for him and when he refused to wed the girl they had chosen it was strike three. They consider that their son liking other men to be worse then having cancer."

"They actually disowned him?" asked Balla in astonishment and Bryon nodded in confirmation even though he didn't need to. "To me that says they did not love him at all or they never would have even thought about disowning him. You don't disown your own son just because he's a little different and can't give you any grandchildren and who actually believes in arranged marriages nowadays? This isn't the 16th and 17th century this is the 22nd, where you should be able to marry whoever you choose or not if that is your choice."

"You might think like that, but a lot of the human race doesn't share your opinion," Bryon told his mother with a half smile. "To a lot of people being gay is worse than being a murderer on death row. As for the arranged marriage Scotty told me that his parents more then likely would have disowned him anyway just for refusing to go along with the contract. In this day and age you do have to have the couples consent for an arranged marriage to be legal."

"I know that, but peoples attitudes have never made any sense to me. I would think that being a murderer would be 100 times worse then liking someone of the same gender, since a murder kills others due to some kind of sick fantasy going on in their minds and in my opinion arranged marriages are right out of the dark ages and should be completely abolished and made illegal."

"You have to look at violence from a human's perspective," Jasper told his wife and son. "Violence is part of a human's nature and has been happening for as long as humans have existed so it is easier to accept a murderer or mugger or when someone turns out bad like that, but being gay is considered an abomination, although it is more accepted today."

"That's true," Bella said. "Most states even allow gay marriages now."

Bryon lit up at that for he would love to be married to Scotty although he knew that was at least a year maybe two or even more in the future.

"I see you like that idea," Jasper said somewhat dryly but with a smile.

"You have no idea," Bryon said, "or maybe you do. I would love to be married to Scotty, although I know that is years in the future."

"It will more than likely be sooner than you think," Jasper told his son. "If he is already being affected by the bond and he is still human then that means that the bond is already strong and I believe he will accept that you are not human at all and will agree to be turned. That he is estranged from his family just makes it easier as that means he will not be missed if he suddenly disappears."

"Oh, he's affected all right," Bryon said with a satisfied smirk. "He can barely keep his hands off me and I'm the same way. I knew immediately we were mates when I looked into his eyes and it was confirmed when I touched him and our bare skin touching caused those sparks I told you about. Scotty has said on more than one occasion that he misses me like crazy whenever we're not together and I feel exactly the same way and we've only been together for a month. Just thinking about him right now is driving me crazy and if our feelings for each other are this strong after only a few weeks how strong will they be once he is turned?"

"Very strong, which bodes well for your lives together," Jasper said pleased. "Some mates have very strong bonds others have weaker ones, it really just depends how compatible your personalities are and if you share a lot of the same interests. Your mother and I for example share a very strong bond, because we share a lot of the same interests and have very compatible personalities, but I have met vampire mates in the past that had weaker bonds, because their personalities are not quite as compatible."

"But they are still mates?" asked Bryon astonished.

"Yes, they are," Jasper confirmed.

"I had no idea that there could be different intensities in a mate bond," Bryon said fascinated.

"Oh yes," said Jasper. "Bonds also deepen and don't fully mature for at least ten years sometimes longer and until then it is very difficult to be very far from your mate. Once the bond matures you can do things separately, but you will still feel separation anxiety, that you will learn to ignore. Bella's and my bond didn't fully finalize for over 15 years."

"So do you think I should tell him when I bring him by sometime in the next week?"

"That's up to you, but in my opinion the sooner you tell him the better off your relationship you will be. Scotland has plenty of legends about vampires and Scott probably doesn't believe that vampires are real, but that will not stop him from figuring out that you share some of the same attributes, the cold skin, the way you move with liquid grace, your white skin that looks as if it never has been touched by the sun, the way you are so inhumanely handsome without a single blemish, just to name a few differences between us and humans."

"And from there it is only a short step to figuring out that you are not completely human," Bella added knowing where Jasper was going with his speech.

"Scott may not immediately guess what you are, but if he is at all intelligent it won't take him long to figure it out, maybe only a matter of days or possibly only a few hours."

"He's very intelligent as I believe I already mentioned," Bryon said with the goofiest grin that either of his parents had ever seen on his face and made both of them struggle not to laugh.

"Well, there you go," said Jasper in a strained voice as if his point had just been made for him, which Bryon supposed it had.

"All right then, I'll tell him when he comes and visits," said Bryon looking a little apprehensive, which he had every right to be for there was a chance that Scott wouldn't accept that Bryon and his family were different and would reject him out of hand. Even if he did reject Bryon and his family however there was no way they could just let him leave and would be forced to change him without his consent, which none of them wanted to happen, but they wouldn't have any choice since no human could have the knowledge that vampires were real and there were only two options if that happened and in this case killing Scott was not really an option at all.

"It will be all be okay, son. Things will work out," Bella assured him giving him a hug.

"I hope you're right, mom, because we all know what dad will be forced to do if he does reject me and that is change him against his will as there's no way in hell I'll let him die."

"Nor will we let him die," Jasper said his voice suddenly stern and commanding, "as that would mean your death as well and there's no way in hell I'm going to let one of my sons kill themselves."

"And I agree, but let's think positive," Bella said. "The positive aspect of this is it is very unlikely that Scott will reject you Bryon and even if he does after the change he is very unlikely to remember ever being angry at you in the first place and the mate bond should make him so attracted to you that he will not be able to resist being around you even if he does remember."

Bryon cheered up at that and said, "I'll go set up a date now and I know I'll not have any trouble doing that because a boyfriend or girlfriend meeting the parents kind of suggests that you want the relationship to be permanent and not just temporary."

"That it does," Bella said as she and Jasper watched their son head out of the study in order to make that call.

"Let's hope it goes well," said Jasper. "I just want Bryon to be happy and I haven't seen him this happy in a decade."

"Have a little faith," Bella told him getting up off the couch and sitting back down on Jasper's lap, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him directly on the lips.

Jasper didn't have a chance to respond as his mouth was quite busy kissing his mate back and it was quite some time later that they finally broke their lips apart.

"Well, I suppose the both of us should act like responsible parents and go talk to our children that aren't traveling the world and ask them if they are gay or at least bisexual and then assure then that we still love them no matter what their sexual orientation and that it truly doesn't matter to us."

"At least we won't have to talk to Trey and Brianna, since they have been mated for a decade," said Bella.

"But that still leaves us eighteen to go and since most of them aren't here it is going to take awhile to talk to all of them since it isn't exactly something that should be discussed over the phone."

"We have the time and it isn't like we'll forget to have that discussion with whichever one of our children is passing through, since as vampires we never forget anything."

"Well let's go have a word individually with the few that are home," Jasper said striding towards the door, Bella following. "You take the girls, I'll do the boys and we can meet back in my study afterwards and tell each other what we discovered."

"Alright, let's get going," said Bella as both she and Jasper headed off to talk to their children.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"Alanna, can I have a word with you," Bella called through the door of her daughter's room after knocking.

"Of course mom, come in," Alanna called.

Bella opened the door and entered her daughter's room and closed the door behind her.

"What did you want to talk to me about mom?" asked Alanna putting down the book she was reading. Alanna like both her father and mother loved to read and always had a book with her wherever she went.

"Well, I wanted to know how you were doing and also wanted to know if there was anything that you wanted to talk to me about, that you don't feel comfortable sharing with your father."

"Like what, mom?" asked Alanna her amber eyes looking confused.

"What I am about to tell you is not to be repeated, is that understood young lady," Bella told her daughter sternly, but softly enough that no one else was likely to hear what they were discussing unless they were actually in the room.

Bella ran a hand soothingly through her daughter's lovely, long reddish-brown hair to let her know that what she was about to say was important and that she was to keep it to herself. She found herself wondering yet again where Alanna and several of her other children got such a lovely color from since Jasper had blond and she had brown.

"Yes, mom," said Alanna suddenly serious for Bella never took that tone with any of her children unless she was absolutely, deadly serious about something.

"We just had a very long discussion, with your brother Bryon and it turns out that he is gay."

"Bryon? Gay?" Alanna questioned quietly, just remembering to keep her voice down so that nobody but her mother would be able to hear her sounding and looking absolutely stunned.

"You never even suspected?" asked Bella who could already tell from her daughter's reactions that she hadn't been aware of that little fact.

"No, I really haven't, but then Bryon has always been a very private person, especially when it comes to his emotions. He is a lot like dad in that way."

"Listen Alanna, there is nothing wrong with being homosexual, no matter what a large percentage of the human population think. In our world it doesn't mean a damn thing since normally we can't have children."

"I have no prejudice against anybody that likes the same gender," Alanna assured her mother. "I was just surprised when you told me that Bryon was gay, that's all. The thing is if he is gay he must've discovered it decades ago so why is he just telling you and dad now?"

"Because he met his mate who is another male by the name of Scott," Bella explained. "He came to your father and me wanting some advice as Bryon wasn't sure how to proceed even though the two of them have been dating steadily for the last three weeks. Jasper advised him that it might be better to bring him here to meet the family and also tell him that we are vampires."

"Whoah that was really brave of him to come clean to you when he's been hiding it, probably for decades," Alanna said proud of her older brother.

"Yes it was," Bella agreed.

"So if Bryon hasn't introduced Scott to the family yet that means he must be human is that correct?"

"Yes, that is correct," Bella said. "We are hoping that Scott will agree to be changed voluntarily, but even if he doesn't he will become a vampire simply because if he dies no matter the reason Bryon will follow his mate into death very shortly thereafter. In any case the reason I wanted to talk to you in the first place was to ask if you were either homosexual of bisexual."

"Why are you asking me this now? When it should've been asked years ago?"

"Because unfortunately it never occurred to your father or me that any of our children might like the same gender. An unfortunate oversight on our part, but even as vampires we can't be expected to think of everything," Bella explained calmly. "With Bryon coming out so to speak, your father and I decided that it was a good idea to find out if any of the other children shared his sexuality."

"Why?" asked Alanna in confusion.

"Because as your parents it is our responsibility and also to assure you that it really doesn't matter to us and that we still love you no matter what. Besides someday you will find your mate and we'd like to know beforehand if it's possible it will be a female and not a male. If you are not homosexual or bisexual then that's okay to."

"Are you going to have this talk with every single one of us?" asked Alanna suddenly seeing the humor in the situation.

"Yes we are, except for Trey and Brianna that is since they are already mated. Eventually we will have talked to all of our children, but since we don't want to discuss it over the phone for obvious reasons it will take awhile "

"Too much chance of being overheard or of somebody listening to your conversation because of a bug," Alanna suggested then added not seeming in the least embarrassed to confess, "and as for your question mom, I consider myself bisexual as I really am attracted to both males and females and have had sex with both and enjoyed it to."

"Thank you for telling me and you seem to understand that there is no reason to be embarrassed about your sexual orientation," Bella told her daughter giving her a hug. "Just remember that you can come to me or your father about anything and we will try our best to help you."

"I know, thanks. Is it just me or is it kind of weird to be discussing my sexual orientation with my mother."

"No, it isn't strange," Bella agreed laughing a little, "but I promise I won't tell a soul except your father, of course, as that is up to you and not me."

"Thanks," said Alanna grateful for her mother's discretion and for the fact that they had been taking so quietly that even vampire hearing wouldn't be able to pick up the words unless they were actually in the room.

"You're welcome. Well, I better go I still have several of your sisters to talk to," Bella told her daughter with a wink getting off the couch and heading for the door.

"I love you mom," Alanna told her mother as Bella opened the door to exit her daughter's room.

"I love you too, Alanna," Bella assured her daughter before exiting the room and closing the door gently behind her. "One down, just three more to go," Bella muttered as she went in search of Melodie although she didn't expect any surprises with her oldest daughter because if there was one thing her Melodie wasn't it was quiet about her sexual escapades.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"Son, can I have a word with you," Jasper asked Gavin cornering him just coming back from town.

"Of course, dad," Gavin said looking surprised and then a little worried.

It was over two hours later and Jasper had already talked to his other two sons that were home at present and both liked women only or at least that was what they believed, but who could tell if their mates someday were going to be male?

"Don't look so worried, you're not in any trouble unless there's something you want to tell me," Jasper told his son with a smirk.

"Not really," Gavin muttered looking down at his feet.

"Come on, take a walk with me Gav," Jasper told his son putting an arm around his shoulders.

"What did you want to talk about?" asked Gavin still looking a little concerned about what his father wanted.

"Well there is no gentle way for me to ask this so I'm going to be blunt," Jasper began. "Your brother Bryon just came to your mother and I and told us that he was gay and we need to know if your gay or bisexual or straight. This is not information you are allowed to tease your brother about is that understood?" Jasper added sternly in warning. "In fact it is best that you don't even mention it to him at all as he is nervous enough about his family's reactions to it as it is."

"Ddddaaaaaddddd!" Gavin said radiating embarrassment and in fact he would be a bright cherry red if he had been able to blush.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, son," Jasper assured Gavin as the two of them walked side by side in the woods that surrounded the house Jasper's arm still around his son's shoulders. "Being gay, bisexual or straight doesn't really matter in the vampire world as normally we can't have children."

"Why are you asking me this now instead of years ago?" asked Gavin still looking anywhere, but directly into his father's red eyes as he was still very embarrassed at this whole conversation. Gavin ignored his father's warning about teasing Bryon about his sexuality for the moment although he knew he would have to answer both the question and the warning before this conversation was over with.

"Well, I'm embarrassed to admit it now, but it just never occurred to either your mother or me that any of our children would be anything, but straight." Jasper admitted looking embarrassed. "When your brother came to us and confessed that he was gay it woke both of us up and made us realize that this is one way that we failed you as parents, by not discussing each of your sexual orientations a long time ago."

"Hey we aren't perfect dad, even if we are immortal," Gavin joked somewhat weakly.

"Yes, that's true and sometimes Bella and I do the best we can to give you children advice even before you ask for it. It really was a very humungous oversight on our parts because both Bella and I read a study and human scientists believe that one out of seven people are gay and even more then that are bisexual, which means they like both sexes. Considering that we have 21 children it stands to reason that at least 2 if not 3 or 4 are gay or at least bisexual."

"I know what bisexual means, dad," said Gavin not yet ready to confess that he was gay not even to his father whom he loved deeply.

"Hey, you don't have to be afraid or embarrassed to tell me or your mother anything for we will never think any less of you. You also have to remember that we aren't human and what a lot of humans are against like being gay doesn't mean the same thing to our kind. For example a lot of humans are peacemakers and abhor killing and yet we kill humans on a regular basis, just to keep ourselves alive. Just because your mother and I have accepted the fact long ago that we must kill in order to live it doesn't mean that neither one of us wouldn't love to be human with normal human lives and never have to feed on blood again."

"Do you and mom really hate being vampires so much?" asked Gavin surprised at what his father had told him.

"No, we don't hate being what we are, we just sometimes wish we could go out into the sun without sparkling and go places that as vampires we can only see at night since they are almost always sunny. We would like to be able to eat some of the foods that this world has to offer, and do things that a normal human never even thinks about doing, because it is so natural to them. On the other hand if we were human we never would have been able to have you and all your siblings either so we have to balance the bad with the good."

"I never thought of it like that before," Gavin admitted looking directly at his father for the first time since the whole conversation had begun.

"No, and you wouldn't have necessarily," Jasper told his son, "but then again you aren't as old as your mother and I either, so you might have thought of these things in time, but then again you might not have. In any case we kind of got off track."

"I was hoping you had forgotten why you originally wanted to talk to me," Gavin muttered looking at his feet again and even scuffing it along the ground nervously. "Fat chance of that."

Jasper observed his son and thought nostalgically that Gavin was a lot like Bella had used to be.

In the beginning Jasper had had trouble getting Bella to talk about certain subjects with him because she had been raised in the early 1900s and somethings were just taboo to talk about and if you did you were considered ill-bred and a hoyden. Bella might have been wild, but she also knew not to go to far and talking about your sexual orientation back then was definitely taboo.

"So am I to understand from the way you're acting that you are either gay or bisexual?"

Gavin looked up in surprised astonishment. "How the hell did you come to that conclusion?"  
"You're acting very suspiciously. If you were completely straight you would have just admitted it and none of the rest of this conversation would have taken place, so that leads me to conclude that you are either bisexual or gay. So which one is it?"  
Gavin truly looked at his father for the first time since the entire conversation had begun and saw the love, compassion and understanding in his eyes. "What made Bryon suddenly come out of the closet?" Gavin asked wanting to avoid his father's question for a little longer.

Jasper shot his son a look to let him know that he was aware of the deliberate switch of subject, but answered anyway, "Bryon met his mate about a month ago and he wanted to introduce them to the family, but in order to do that he had to come out of the closet as you put it. His name is Scott and if your brother's goofy grin is anything to go by whenever he thinks of him your brother is truly, irrevocably and deeply in love."

"You mean like you and mom are, dad," Gavin slyly suggested.

That comment surprised a laugh out of Jasper causing Gavin to grin relieving the tension a little.

"I never acted as goofy as Bryon," Jasper protested laughingly.

"Yes, well, your personalities are different for one thing, dad," Gavin said, "and also you've been through a lot more than he has. Surviving what you did would change anybody and make them more serious. Whose to say that Bryon's personality isn't like yours was when you were human? Since you don't remember what you were like as a human it is very possible, don't you agree?"

"Yes, you've made a good point," Jasper agreed. "Now..."

Gavin sighed and gave in as he knew his father would keep annoying him until he had learned what he wanted to. Jasper was a Whitlock after all and Whitlocks were very, very stubborn.

"I'm gay, dad. There happy now?" asked Gavin looking at his feet again.

"Now was that so hard, son?" asked Jasper clapping Gavin on the back affectionately.

"Yes, it was very hard, to come out even to you, who is my father," Gavin admitted.

"Bella and I haven't been doing our job properly in raising you if you have trouble coming to us with anything," Jasper muttered. "First off, being gay or bisexual doesn't mean the same thing to a vampire that it does to a human."

"So you said just a few minutes ago," Gavin said. "Knowing that fact doesn't make it any easier to tell somebody, even somebody you love that you just happen to be gay. I finally came clean to you though because I knew you would keep bringing it up and annoying me about it until I did."

"Would I do that?" Jasper protested trying to look as innocent as he could.

"Yes, you would if it was something you wanted or thought you needed to know," Gavin said not at all fooled by his father's act of innocence.

"Alright, you'll right, I would have kept bringing it up at odd moments until you either told me or you let it slip," Jasper admitted it with a grin.

"Just as I thought," Gavin said with a grin of his own. "Oh and dad about your warning at the beginning of this conversation you don't have to worry about me teasing Bryon as it would kind of be like a black sheep calling itself white, don't you think? If I did tease him about it he would also be able to tease me so I'm not even going to start that kind of vicious cycle. Besides, Bryon's my brother and I love him no matter what and teasing him about something he can't help is not going to happen."

"Good!" Jasper exclaimed approvingly. "That is exactly the right kind of attitude to take. I'm proud of you and how mature you are."  
"Thanks, dad," said Gavin as the two of them wondered back to the house side by side.

"You're welcome," Jasper said.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

Jasper, Bella and Melodie were waiting in the entrance hall when when the front door of the house opened and Scott entered first followed by Bryon, who shut the door gently behind him.

Scott looked and felt incredibly nervous, which Jasper could hardly blame him for. It was a week later and Saturday as well, and since Scotty had the weekend, as well as Monday off from his job Bryon had felt it was a good time to introduce him to his parents, even though Jasper and Bella were going to be his brother and his wife at least at first.

"Scotty these are my brother and his wife Jasper and Bella Whitlock and my twin sister Melodie," Bryon introduced. "Jasper, Bella, Mel this is Scott, my boyfriend."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Scott," Jasper said shaking Scott's outstretched hand. "I wish I could tell you that we knew all about you, but Bryon's been keeping you to himself until recently."

Jasper's tone was light, joking and immediately put Scott at least somewhat at ease, which had been Jasper's intent.

Bryon shot his father a grateful look when Scott couldn't see him and Jasper nodded very slightly in response.

Scott opened his mouth to ask the rather obvious question, but Bella spoke before he could. "No we don't care that Bryon is gay. It truly doesn't matter to us."

"It doesn't matter to me either, just so long as Bryon is happy and the way he is almost glowing right now tells me that he is and that is all that matters," said Melodie. "It is a pleasure to meet you Scott."

Scott relaxed completely at Melodie's words and very demonstrative hug.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Whitlock, Melodie," said Scott finally seeming to remember the manners that had been drummed into him as a child.

"Please, it's just Bella and Jasper," Bella said with a disarming smile. "My husband and I aren't very big on formality as we are just really casual people."

"If that is what you want," Scott agreed a little tentatively.

"That is what we want," Jasper said and Scott nodded still looking a little uncomfortable.

"Why don't we head to the den and you can tell us all about yourself and how you and Bryon met."

"Didn't Bryon tell you?" asked Scott in surprise.

"Yes, but we wanted to hear the story from your perspective," Bella said.

"Oh, all right," said Scott sitting down on the loveseat Bryon sitting beside him, taking his hand in his and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Before we get started though, can I offer you something to drink? It's no trouble. We have sweet tea, milk, juice, or soda."

"Thank you and tea will be fine if you're sure it's no trouble."

"No trouble at all," Bella assured him getting up from were she was sitting on the couch beside Jasper and headed into the kitchen at a human pace.

Less than five minutes later Bella returned and it wouldn't have taken her that long except she didn't want to return immediately because a human wouldn't have.

Bella set the tray on the coffee table and passed Scott his glass of sweet tea and handed Jasper a glass of juice, Melodie and Bryon glasses of soda, before sitting down and picking up her own glass of milk.

All the Whitlocks knew the routine and pretended to take sips of their drinks and then placing them on the coffee table on the coasters that Bella handed them.

"So, tell us about yourself, Scott," Bella began as she carefully set down her glass on the coaster in front of her.

"Well, I'm sure Bryon told you that we have been exclusively dating for about three weeks."

"He did, but we would all like to hear how the two of you met from your perspective. Bryon mentioned that you met at a club downtown, but not the name of the club or any details."

Bryon looked like he wanted to blush as he remembered the night that he had met Scott, but couldn't since he wasn't human and then a second later Scott blushed as well.

Bella thought it was adorable how it was clear that Bryon would have blushed if he could have and how Scott did blush, but kept her thoughts to herself for the moment as she wanted to hear the full story of how her son and Scott had met and not just the few details that Bryon had seen fit to give her.

"Bryon and I met at a club downtown called the New Wave," Scott explained his accent quite thick though it was quite clear he was talking a little more slowly so he would be easier to understand, which everybody appreciated, although it wasn't necessary.

"I have been living in New York since I was eighteen. I'm sure Bryon told you that my parents disowned me when I refused to sign a marriage contract that had been negotiated with another Scottish family that had a daughter of marriageable age."

"He did," Jasper said, calmly, "and both me and my wife are in agreement that arranged marriages should have been made illegal in this day and age. I can understand arranged marriages centuries ago—and no I don't agree with the practice even then as the heart wants, what the heart wants—when it was important to produce as many children as possible since so many of them died of various diseases, but in this century it is just silly since the human race is at least three times larger then it was just a hundred years ago."

"In other words no one can choose who they fall in love with and from what I've read a lot of arranged marriages were based on the exchange of goods and not necessarily cash. Love didn't enter into it very often, which wouldn't have made for a very happy marriage in most cases," Bella added.

"So your marriage...?" began Scott tentatively.

"No, our marriage was because we loved each other not because our families wanted us to wed." Jasper said looking over at Bella with such profound love in his eyes that it almost brought Scott to tears as he had never seen such a deep, abiding and ever-lasting love in anyone's eyes in all his time on this Earth and he highly doubted he would be lucky enough to see such a special and rare thing again. If only his parents had loved each other as much as the older Whitlocks obviously loved each other then perhaps they never would have thrown him out, but then a terrible thought came into Scott's consciousness and that was: What if events hadn't happened exactly as they had would he have ever met Bryon? Bryon meant everything to him and even the thought of never meeting the man he loved deeply sent a shiver of profound fear through his body. If events hadn't happened exactly as they had, if his parents hadn't thrown him out when he was just 18, if he hadn't been at the New Wave that night he had a very strong premonition that he and Bryon never would have crossed paths at all.

"In fact both sets of our parents were dead by the time we met," Jasper continued jerking Scott out of his rather morbid thoughts, which he was grateful for. "Neither one of us believe in arranged marriages and we would never force Bryon or Melodie to get married to people that they had never met or had only met once or twice. Love is not something that can be forced and to get married for any other reason is not right. Why make yourself miserable, by marrying someone you can't stand or barely know?"

"Thank you for telling me that as you have relieved my mind," Scott said sincerely, "but we kind of went off track."

"You're welcome," Bella said with a smile that just lit up her face making Scott instantly want to smile back.

Scott continued with his tale by saying, "I was sitting at the bar and had been there for about an hour when Bryon walked in. I wasn't really paying attention to who was coming or going actually as I was trying to drown my sorrows by getting stone cold drunk as I had just broken up with somebody I had been dating for months, and I just happened to look back wondering who had just walked in as a lot of the females that had been chattering quite close to where I was sitting had suddenly stopped as if they had been stunned into silence. When I did turn around to see who had just walked in my gaze was immediately drawn to him like a lodestone is to a magnet as he stood near the door as if he was just observing the whole of the club. I thought he was the most handsome man I had ever seen and as he walked away from the door and deeper into the club I immediately revised that opinion to absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous and what astonished me was that he didn't seem aware of how handsome he was. I observed him as he came towards the bar and chose the stool right next to mine and I really did try to ignore him because I was thinking that there was no way that this gorgeous man was interested in anything but women. I felt at that moment that I never had a chance and that there was no way he was gay and I was cursing the fates for putting him in my path, because I figured it wouldn't be more than a few minutes before he was out on the dance floor dancing with some woman.

"The women of course gathered around his stool like vultures after the dead and tried to get his attention by offering to buy him a drink which annoyed me no end. I had just about decided to leave so I didn't have to be a witness to the mob scene that was bound to occur when Bryon chose one of them to dance with and it shocked me so deeply when he very politely told them that he wasn't interested and to leave him alone that I very nearly fell off my stool."

Bella, Jasper and Melodie chuckled at this for they could just imagine the scene that Scott was describing.

"Most of the women disappeared at his very polite refusal, but a few still hung around trying to get him to change his mind. Finally Bryon got annoyed and I distinctly saw him roll his eyes as he told the remaining girls rudely to get lost that he wasn't interested and that he hadn't come to the club just to pick up a date. He then turned to me very calmly and politely asked me if I wanted to dance. I was so shocked that it took me a couple of seconds to respond and it didn't help that I was halfway drunk at that point. The girls remaining were absolutely flabbergasted and I heard them began to mutter that it was a shame that such a gorgeous man was gay."

"So did you dance with him?" asked Melodie looking eager to hear the rest of the story.

"What do you think?" asked Scott cheekily with a chuckle. "There was no way in hell I was going to turn down such an invitation from such a handsome gentleman, when I had just been fantasizing about him."

"If I was gay I certainly wouldn't have," Jasper said by way of agreement.

"Exactly," Scott agreed with a smile.

"So what happened after that?" asked Bella sounding just as eager as her daughter, to hear the rest of the story.

"Well we danced, for quite a long time actually, talking as we danced getting to know a little bit more about each other like our names for example. It must've been at least a couple of hours later that my feet really begin to throb and I told Bryon that I needed to sit down down for a bit and I thought that that would be the end of any contact between us, but as you know I was very wrong about that. Bryon politely thanked me for helping him out of the jam with the women and then asked me if he could join me at my table and I immediately said yes, very eagerly I might add."

Everybody chuckled at that as Scott continued, "I boldly asked him if he was really gay or if he was just using me to get away from the mob of women and he told me that yes he was straight gay and not bisexual as woman didn't hold any interest for him except as friends. He also said that he had been aware of the fact that he liked other men for several years and had dated some, but not a lot. He then told me that he had noticed me the second he had walked in and he had been working up the courage to ask me if I wanted to dance when all those women had begun pestering him. He told me then that he had felt drawn to me for some reason and that he had wanted to get to know me and perhaps ask me out for a date if I was agreeable. We sat at that table talking until the club closed at 4 AM and it was the best night I can remember having in a very long time and I knew then that I wanted to see Bryon again so when he asked me to go on a date with him the next evening I immediately agreed, without hesitating. We've been together ever since that night and I hope we always will be," Scott finished the telling his tale.

"We will always be together," Bryon assured Scott giving the hand he was holding a squeeze. "I have no intention of ever letting you go, so you had better get used the idea."

"I won't object to that I assure you," Scott said returning the squeeze noticing, not the first time that Bryon's hand was ice cold and that little sparks danced along the skin from the contact. Scott had not precisely gotten used to the way sparks flew whenever they touched, but he had accepted that it was just part of his relationship with Bryon.

Bella and Jasper exchanged looks that was all but indecipherable to anybody, but them and Bella gently gave Jasper's hand a squeeze to let him know that his message had been received.

"Before we get into a discussion about making our relationship permanent there are some things, family secrets if you will, that we need to reveal to you," Bryon told him.

"You want to make our relationship permanent?" asked Scott trying to keep the hope out of his voice. "As in marriage, permanent?"

"Yes, as in marriage," Bryon said quite calmly looking straight into Scott's eyes so he could see his sincerity in his oddly colored blue eyes, for the blue almost looked artificial the only reason that Scott hadn't run screaming the minute he had met Bryon in the proper light was because Bryon had remembered to put in his contacts, before meeting Scott for that first date and that was only thanks to his father's reminder.

"So what kind of family secrets are you talking about?" asked Scott after he had given Bryon a kiss for saying that he wanted to make their relationship permanent and be together forever

"First let me ask you a question," Bryon began looking a little nervous although he tried not to show it, "What unusual traits have noticed about me?"

Scott immediately looked puzzled, but then really thought about it and realized that he had catalogued several strange things about Bryon almost unconsciously, putting the things he had noticed on the back burner to mule over subconsciously. The thing was that Bryon was always ice cold and come to think of it Bryon never seemed to eat either or drink for that matter, which was really very strange. Also whenever things begin to get heated between them and they were on the verge of fucking each other senseless Bryon always pulled back before they could go to far, although it was clear from Bryon's expression and body language that he didn't want to, but that he was worried about something, like hurting him perhaps? Which was silly.

"So what have you noticed that is strange about me?" asked Bryon.

"Well this is kind of silly," Scott admitted, "but your skin no matter where we are is always ice cold, but I just figured you had poor circulation, although that doesn't usually mean your whole body, just certain parts like your hands or feet."

"And? What else?" asked Bryon.

"Well, you never seem to eat or drink anything or at least you haven't whenever we are together," Scott said looking at the other four people in the room to see if they thought he was being silly or delusional, but everybody's expression were encouraging so he continued. "Also I've never seen anyone move as gracefully as you do until I met the rest of your family that is. It is almost like liquid in motion and also that your muscles don't work quite the same way mine or anybody else's do. You don't walk, you glide and the way you move seems to scream predator."

"Anything else?" asked Bryon.

Scott thought about it very seriously because from Bryon's expression it was important that he figure something out on his own with only minimum help.

"Well, your skin is harder, then a normal human's," Scott said looking at everybody in the room to see if he was imagining things and when they all nodded at him to continue he said, "Whenever we kiss I've noticed that your skin seems almost stone hard, and completely white without the touch of the sun that characterizes a human's, but again I figured it was some kind of medical condition."

"And what do all these little clues that you have noticed about me tell you?" Bryon asked Scott.

Scott thought about it and then blurted out, "That you aren't completely human?"

"And if I'm not human, then what am I?" asked Bryon his expression intent.

Scott didn't reply for several minutes and none of the vampires in the room said anything just watched Scott calmly, although in Bryon's case also a tad nervously as he tried to figure out what the Whitlocks were getting at that they couldn't or wouldn't just outright say.

Finally after what seemed like forever but was really only about five minutes all the weird things that he had noticed about Bryon came together in his head and he nearly had a panic attack. No it couldn't be, could it? Scott asked himself. The Whitlocks couldn't be a family of vampires, could they? And if that was the case why in the hell were they telling him? Why hadn't they just killed him, drained his blood and been done with it? No, there had to be another explanation, there just had to be. Vampires weren't real, they were just stuff made up by some storyteller a long time ago, right? Vampires were not based on facts were they? The Whitlocks would think he was extremely silly and stupid if he did happen the blurt out what he was thinking he just knew it. But what other explanation was there that fit the facts?

"I can tell by your expression and body language that you have come to some kind of conclusion, so would you care to share it with the rest of us?" asked Bryon not mentioning that he also felt Scott's emotions of panic, which meant that he probably had come to the right answer, but didn't want to admit it for fear of being seen as silly or stupid.

"What I'm thinking is just silly," Scott said trying very hard not to blurt out what he had concluded.

"And what were you thinking?" asked Melodie speaking for the first time since the conversation had started.

Scott looked at the intent expression on everybody's faces and it seemed like almost against his will he blurted out what he had been thinking, "Vampires."

Scott look at Jasper, then Bella, then Melodie and finally Bryon expecting to be told that he was imagining things and then for all of them to laugh at him but when none of reactions he was expecting occurred he started to panic. Was he really sitting with four vampires? And if they really were vampires why hadn't they just drained his blood and buried his corpse by now? Finally Scott's brain overload from all the high emotion he had been experiencing and his own panic and he fainted.

Since he was unconscious Scott was unaware of the fact that Bryon had caught him before his body could hit the floor.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

Scott began to regain consciousness only a few minutes later only to hear the buzzing of voices just above him that gradually started to form themselves into words.

"Is he alright?" asked Melodie and the concern in her a voice made Scott blink in confusion. Why was Melodie so concerned about him?

"He's fine, he just fainted," Bella assured everyone. "I'm not really surprised actually as he was bound to be panicking when he finally figured out what we are and his brain probably just overloaded and couldn't handle all the emotions he was feeling."

"You're sure he just fainted mom?" asked Bryon and the panic in his tone caused Scott to want to reassure him.

"Yes, I'm sure," Bella told her son her tone also concerned. "The human brain isn't really equipped to deal with such strong emotion and when it has had more than it could handle it just automatically shuts down. He'll be just fine and should wake up shortly."

"Your mother is right, your mate will be just fine," Jasper voice said the tone soothing. "I do know something about human nature and Bella is right when she says that the human body is only equipped to handle so much emotion before it automatically shuts down."

One fact was crystal clear in his still muddled brain and that was that Bryon had never harmed him and he had had plenty of opportunities over the last month to kill him and be done with it, so there must be another reason why he had been told the family's secret and it certainly had to be the biggest secret out there, Scott thought still pretending to be unconscious although he was waking up rapidly and his head which had been feeling as if it was stuffed with cotton was clearing. What had Jasper meant when he said that his son's mate would be alright? Could Bryon really want the relationship to be a permanent one? Scott thought back to the seriousness of Bryon's expression and how Bryon had looked him directly in the eye when he told him he would like to make the relationship a permanent one and immediately concluded that Bryon had been being truthful and also deadly serious, so if that was the case that meant none of Bryon's family had any intention of killing him.

You didn't try to get to know someone or spend massive amounts of times in their company if you were just going to kill them, so he had to conclude that they had no intention of causing him harm.

"Shouldn't we put some smelling salts or something underneath his nose in order to wake him up?" asked Melodie.

"I don't think that's going to be necessary," Jasper told his daughter his tone amused. "I believe he's beginning to wake up."

Scott took that is his cue to begin to groan and pretend to force his eyes open even though he had been awake for at least the last 10 minutes listening to the conversation.

Scott opened his eyes all the way and blinked rapidly several times as if groggy and Jasper shot him an amused look that let him know that he had been aware that Scott was awake, but he didn't say anything.

"Scotty? You okay?" asked Bryon his concern very real as he came to sit on the end of the couch where Scott had been placed after he had blacked out, unable to get as close as he would have liked since Scott's form took up most of the couch.

"I'm fine," Scott assured Bryon sitting up and as soon as he did Bryon moved from where he was sitting to as close as he could get and that meant there wasn't even half an inch of space between their thighs. "I'm actually surprised that I don't have a headache or at least a bump on the back of my head from hitting it on the floor."

"That's probably because I caught you before you could hit the floor," Bryon admitted looking a little sheepish. "Our kind can move very fast when we have to."

"So I was right? You are vampires?"

"You were right," Bryon told him and took Scott's hand in his secretly delighted that Scott didn't pull away from him as Bryon had feared he might once he learned what he and his family were.

"And you just couldn't have told me that without make me put the clues together myself?" asked Scott.

"Yes, we could have told you," Jasper said speaking for the first time, "but all of us knew that you were more likely to believe it right away if you figured it out for yourself. If you had not put the clues together on your own then yes Bryon would have told you with us waiting in the wings as backup if it was needed."

"Why exactly did you tell me in the first place?" asked Scott wanting to confirm in his own mind that what he had heard while he was pretending to be unconscious was accurate. Besides he would like to have an explanation for what the word mate actually meant, because it if it meant what he thought it did... "Or maybe a better question is why didn't you just kill me and been done with it?"

Scott instantly regretted his words as he saw Bryon heart-wrenching pained look. "I'm sorry, truly sorry, for my words, Bryon," Scott apologized, "but you have to admit that it is a question that needs to be asked and once you answer it we won't have that particular elephant in the middle of the room interfering with our relationship."

"Scott's right, Bryon, and you would know that if you were thinking logically instead of emotionally. The sooner you clear up certain questions the sooner you can get your relationship back on track," Jasper told his son sympathetically.

Bryon nodded to his father still looking pained, but then he turned until he was facing Scott and explained why he hadn't just made a meal off him.

"What do you know about soulmates?" asked Bryon totally and completely seriously.

Scott thought it was an odd question but gave it some serious thought before replying. "Nothing really," Scott said. "Just what I've read in novels and I'm sure that's not the most accurate thing to go by."

"It's a start," Bryon admitted, "but only that. I'm going to tell you what finding a mate means in the world of vampires."

Scott didn't notice when the other three vampires in the room got up to leave for other parts of the house as they didn't you need to be present for this part of the conversation as it was something private between Bryon and his mate.

"You see Scott in the world in which I am a part of finding your mate is like finding the other half of your soul. When a vampire finds their other half, the half that completes them whether or not he or she is human the connection between them is instantaneous. It is a monumental struggle not to claim your mate immediately, and what that means is turning them into one of my kind if they are human so that they can always be together."

Scott gulped a little feeling self-conscious and then asked as calmly as possible, "So you wanted to turn me into a vampire as soon as you saw me?"

"Yes," Bryon admitted without an ounce of shame. "The minute I looked into your eyes was the second I knew you were the one that was meant for me. The one that completes me. The one that I've been looking for that will make me happy for the rest of my existence."

"Can I ask you a question?" asked Scott just a little apprehensively.

"Of course ask me anything you want and I will answer it as best I can," Bryon assured him giving the hand he was holding a gentle squeeze of reassurance. "You don't ever have to be afraid of asking me a question, but for that's the way we learn things. I will never harm you or get annoyed with you no matter how many questions you ask for mates cannot harm each other and even if they could I would never even thing of harming you as the mere idea of anyone laying even one unwanted finger on you is abhorrent to me. I'm still the same Bryon that you've been dating for the last month as I haven't suddenly changed into a stranger just because you are now aware of the secret that I've been keeping from you."

Scott absorbed that silently and then asked the question that had been running around his brain ever since he had woken up from blacking out.

"Is this mate bond you keep talking about the reason that we haven't had sex yet, beyond a little heavy petting?"

Bryon nodded and then added, "That's certainly a big part of the reason why we haven't made love yet no matter how much I've wanted to. It has been very hard to resist just claiming you even without your consent, but if we Whitlocks are one thing it is stubborn to the core, which I get from both sides of my family."

"What's the other part of the reason that we haven't made love yet?" asked Scott.

"My strength," Bryon answered immediately. "Vampires are super strong and if I had forgotten for even an instant that fact while in the heat of passion I could have done you major damage and possibly even killed you by accident. I wasn't about to take that risk with you when you mean so much to me. Besides I've never made love with a human before, well at least not one that wasn't severely injured or died afterwards, even before I drained their blood. I have been warned constantly about the dangers of being intimate with humans and I know that those warnings were given for a reason as I will always remember how much damage I caused to those humans that I used to relieve myself of my sexual tension. That was before I met you though and I was not about to experiment in controlling my strength since I knew the kind of damage I could do to you if I wasn't extremely careful every second. I didn't give a damn if those humans died or not since I was going to drain them anyway after I had relieved myself, but I do care about you and it could literally kill me if I hurt or killed you while we were making love."

"Vampires are really that strong?" asked Scott.

"Oh, yes," Bryon assured him. "If you wanted a demonstration we could go outside and I would show you. Our kind can crush rocks into powder without any trouble. We must control our strength every second, so that we don't harm some poor human by accident and only if we mean to."

"You've never hurt me," Scott protested.

"No because controlling our strength becomes instinctive after awhile, but that doesn't include while in the heat of passion, or when we are extremely angry," Bryon explained.

"What about what the legends and movies say about you turning into bats or that you sleep in coffins or that you can be killed with a wooden stake through the heart?" asked Scott.

"None of it is true," Bryon said. "For one thing we can't be permanently killed by a mere piece of wood if only because there is no way that it would penetrate our stone hard skin. There is a way to kill us, but we can get into that later. No, we do not sleep in coffins because we do not sleep at all."

"You don't need to sleep at all?" asked Scott astonished.

"It's not a matter of needing, but of not being able to," Bryon said, unconsciously rubbing his thumb along the inside of Scott's hand in a soothing gesture.

"And the turning into bats that is so often portrayed in the movies?"

"Nope," Bryon said shaking his head his lips twitching in amusement.

"Run faster than a car? Aging? Seeing and hearing so much better then a human's?"

"Yes, yes, yes and yes," Bryon responded

"Red eyes?"

"Yes," Bryon answered.

"But your eyes are blue," Scott protested.

"Colored contacts, which all of us use when it isn't appropriate to wear sunglasses. I can take them out now if you want and you can see what my eyes really look like."

"Yes, I want to see what your eyes really look like and not this artificial blue which I always thought looked fake."

"Well, you were right," Bryon said immediately taking out his oddly colored contacts and holding them in his palm. When he looked up Scott saw that Bryon eyes were a dark red.

Scott stared into Bryon's eyes as if hypnotised and he moved his free hand to unconsciously stroke Bryon's cold cheek.

Bryon immediately leaned his face into the caress and his tense muscles relaxed just little.

"It doesn't matter to me what you are," Scott finally said. "I've felt drawn to you from the second I laid eyes on you. I felt that you were my destiny that had come calling as corny as that sounds."

"It might be corny, but it's also true," Bryon said relaxing a little more, even daring to return Scott's gesture of a few moments ago raising his hand in order to caress the warm smooth skin of his mate's cheek.

Scott responded to the caress the same way that Bryon had by leaning his face towards Bryon's hand.

"So where do we go from here?" asked Scott finally after quite a few minutes of silence.

"Well, that that kind of depends on you," Bryon said.

"What do you mean?" asked Scott just a little nervously.

"It's nothing bad," Bryon assured him, "or at least I don't think so."

"Then explain," Scott suggested as calmly as possible.

"Alright," Bryon agreed. Bryon was silent for a few moments seeming to be gathering his thoughts. "When I said that I wanted to make our relationship permanent I wasn't just blowing smoke out of my ears, I was and am absolutely serious about that."

"I already figured that out," Scott said as Bryon paused. "I know that you never would've told me what you and your family are if you weren't totally serious about how you feel about me."

"That's true, but it's more than that," said Bryon.

"In what way?" asked Scott.

Bryon explained as best he could without telling Scott that if he were to die then he would as well as Bryon didn't think that Scott needed to know that or at least right now. It was that Bryon wanted to keep the information from him, but he felt that his mate had enough to worry about at the moment and didn't need anymore.

Scott tried to keep his expression bland as he listened to Bryon's explanation and thought about the fact that he was almost sure that Bryon meant to turn him into a vampire for that way they would always be together. Would Bryon and his family turn him into a vampire against his will? Probably if he didn't agree to be changed on his own free will. Scott couldn't really blame them if that was the case as he was sure that Jasper and Bella would not want their son unhappy for the rest of his existence when he did die of old age and if he were to remain human the would happen in seventy or eighty years.

Wait son? Where had that thought come from? Bryon and his sister were not Jasper's and Bella's son and daughter were they? Scott thought about it and suddenly several things that had confused him clicked into place in his mind. The way that Bryon seemed to defer to Jasper and Bella, which implied that they were older or maybe that they were the ones in charge, which didn't necessarily mean that Jasper and Bella were Bryon and Melodie's parents. Also as much as Bryon and Melodie looked like Jasper with his blond hair, high cheekbones, and the shape of the eyes, they also looked a great deal like Bella as well, especially in the nose, mouth and hands, which had short fingers. Also despite their height, which was tall, like Jasper, Bryon and Melodie's bodies looked more like Bella's or at least they did from what he could tell without seeing them naked, which he had no desire to do. Well scratch that he had every desire to see Bryon naked, just not Melodie.

Putting aside the issue of how two vampire's had had children in the first place for the moment he asked instead, "You want to turn me into a vampire don't you?"

"Yes," Bryon admitted after a moment his voice quiet. "Actually now that you that vampire's actually exist it's more of a requirement."

"What do you mean requirement?" asked Scott confused.

"Well, we have certain laws and one of them is that no human can know that our kind exists and so there are only two choices given if a human somehow finds out about us whether it is revealed deliberately or accidentally."

"Either the human is changed into vampire or they are killed?" Scott guessed.

"Exactly right," Bryon confirmed with a nod. "We have three rulers that live in Italy called the Volturi and they are the ones that enforce our laws. If they discovered that the law has been broken it would not only mean death for you, but for me and my entire family. In any case even if the Volturi weren't a threat to my family there is no way in hell that I could just let you die, whether of old age or not."

"Because of the mate bond?" asked Scott.

"That's part of it certainly, but also over the last month that we have been seeing each other I've grown to love you and I know I would even if there was no bond between us. The bond just removes the...uncertainty, that usually comes with any relationship."

Scott thought about that and then nodded for he had had several relationships in the past that he had believed he was in love with the guy he was dating and it had turned out later that it had been nothing but infatuation or puppy love.

"I love you to and have for sometime," Scott admitted finally smiling at Bryon.

Bryon relaxed completely at Scott's words. "You sure are accepting this pretty easily, your blacking out aside."

Scott shrugged his shoulders then took both of Bryon's hands in his marveling at how gentle they had always been whenever they made out and yet if Bryon was to be believed the strength in his hands was enough to crush rocks and probably human bones to powder without much effect.

"What can I say except that I know you and you have never hurt me in anyway," said Scott. "If you had wanted to hurt me you've had a hundred different opportunities to do so since we met. You know somebody said actions speak louder then words and your actions tell me that you would never deliberately hurt me. Now if I had been dragged into your world without us getting to know each other first it would be a whole different story. You know me Bryon, and you know I am a man that thinks things through before reacting and I've had plenty of time to think about what my feelings for you are. You being a vampire doesn't change of damn thing about how I feel about you, except that I'm glad you finally told me."

Bryon couldn't help himself as he leaned over and kissed Scott passionately, without reservation because his mate's words meant so much to him.

"Does that mean that you accept being turned into a vampire, so we never have to be apart?"

"Even if I didn't agree you would change me into one anyway," Scott pointed out.

"True, but I'd rather have your agreement then be forced to change you against your will," Bryon said.

"What's the transformation like?" asked Scott not giving any kind of answer.

"Painful or at least that's what I've been told," Bryon said.

"You don't remember your own transformation?" asked Scott in surprise.

"I never actually went through the traditional transformation," Bryon admitted looking down at his hands.

"So you really are Jasper's and Bella's son and not Jasper's brother like you originally told me," Scott blurted out.

Bryon looked up from his hands in surprise, but before he could respond, Scott said, "Oh come on you look a lot like Jasper that's true, but you look enough like Bella to be her son as well. The only thing I can't figure out though is how a couple of vampires can have children."

"All of that will be explained in time," said Jasper reentering the den at that moment. "I am glad you have accepted Bryon's bond with you so easily. Bella and I feared that we would be forced to change you against your will in order not to lose our son. Bryon you need to get Scott something to eat as I'm sure he is starving. You have to remember that Scott is still human and humans need to be fed at regular increments."

"Now that you mention it..." Scott said his stomach suddenly growling letting him know that he was indeed very, very hungry. Scott looked at his watch and blinked at what time it was. "I had no idea it was so late."

Jasper shot his son a look that said without words that he thought that Bryon was making a mistake in not telling Scott that if anything happened to him that Bryon would die as well, just as soon as Scott was not looking in direction. Bryon also shot his father a look that said what's the point of putting even more pressure on him then there already is?

Scott looked up just then so that ended the silent conversation between father and son for the moment anyway.

"Yes, you and Bryon have been talking for quite some time," Jasper said, patting Scott gently on the shoulder in a gesture of affection, which surprised Scott no end.

"Yes, we need to get you something to eat," said Bryon. "I'm afraid I lost track of time and had no idea it was after eight o'clock. You missed lunch thanks to all the talking we've been doing and dad's right that I need to remember you need to eat at regular times."

"My stomach certainly agrees with you on its need of sustenance," Scott grinned. "I don't need anything complicated though, just a couple of quarter pound cheeseburgers with everything on them will do, along with a large fry and strawberry milkshake would fit the bill nicely."

"I'll take you out for a nice dinner as pretty soon you will not be able to eat at all," Bryon decided.

"You don't have to do that," Scott protested.

"Consider it a date, one where you know the answer to at least most of your questions that have been brewing in your mind for the last few weeks," Bryon cut off Scott's protests.

"Oh I still have plenty of questions, although you have answered a few of the major ones I had," Scott said giving in with good grace.

"And you'll have a chance to ask them at some point," Bryon promised.

"If you are going to take Scott some place nice you need to dress the part," Melodie said coming into the den.

"It isn't going to be that nice since it is way to late to even think about getting a reservation," Bryon protested as he was more of the causal dress kind of guy.

Melodie rolled her eyes at her brother and argued, "Don't you want to look nice for your mate?"

"Hey there's no point of dressing up on my account as all my nice clothes are back at my apartment and I don't own anything really, super nice in any case."

"You can borrow from Gavin as you are about his size. He won't mind," Jasper suggested. "The pants will be a little long on you, but should fit otherwise."

"I can roll up the pants legs," Scott said not asking the obvious question that was burning in his mind as he knew now was not the time.

"Gavin has some really nice clothes as he has always been a bit of a dandy and is something of a clotheshorse," Melodie said approvingly who was something of a clotheshorse herself.

"And where he or you for that matter gets it from I don't have a clue," Bryon muttered.

Jasper and Scott coughed at that hiding their laughter while Melodie just glared at her twin. "Sometimes I wonder brother, dear, how we can be related at all."

"Sometimes I wonder the same thing, sis," Bryon shot back with a smirk not at all upset at Melodie's comment.

Melodie just rolled her eyes again at her brother and then escorted Scott upstairs and to Gavin's room so he could choose something to wear.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"So you also have a brother, Gavin?" asked Scott as Bryon drove the two of them into the city.

"Yes, and Gav isn't mine and Melodie's only sibling. In fact there are twenty-one of us, altogether."

"Twenty-one, vampire children," Scott asked almost choking on the words.

"Hey, hey, calm down," Bryon soothed taking one hand off the wheel long enough to run it up and down Scott's bare arm, which caused Scott to shiver with desire and for his cock to stand at attention, but of course Bryon had always had that affect on him right from the moment they had met. "We weren't all born at the same time you know. In fact my mother was pregnant four separate times."

"Only four?" asked Scott flabbergasted.

"Only four," Bryon confirmed. "You see it happened like this..." and so Bryon began to tell Scott the story of the shrine of Artemis and how his parents had gotten the ability to have children. "The first time mom got pregnant thanks to the amulet was an experiment as since no vampire had ever had a child they weren't exactly sure what any vampire's babies would be like. They would have destroyed my brothers that were born before I was if they had turned out to be uncontrollable since they couldn't afford to have the human race finding out that vampires were real. If they'd had to do that it would have destroyed them though and none of the ones that came after would have been born."

"So which one of there children are you and from what pregnancy?"

"Melodie and I were born first in mom's second pregnancy which she had to spend the whole last month in bed for, because she was so enormous that she and dad didn't want to risk our lives in any way. They weren't sure you see if we could die as babies and so neither of them wanted to take any chances."

"So who's older you or..." Scott began to ask.

"Melodie," Bryon answered before Scott could even finish his sentence.

"And how many brothers and sisters shared your mother's womb along with you and your sister?" asked Scott.

"There were eight of us all together, for that second pregnancy," Bryon answered.

"And did all your siblings live?" asked Scott.

"Yes, and all are perfectly healthy without any of the things that can be wrong with a human multiple birth pregnancy. You know disease, undeveloped lungs, dying within hours, or days because the babies are so small and underweight, that type of thing," Bryon answered.

"And how long did it take before you were fully an adult?" asked Scott.

"A year," Bryon answered. "Physically we were adults after a year, but in many ways we were still children as we didn't have any life experience and our parents just couldn't allow us out on our own until we had learned how to control our bloodlust when out among the humans."

"Your bloodlust?" asked Scott wondering if it meant the same think that he heard that some warriors doing a battle suffered.

"You know where you attack the first person you see no many how many people see what you're doing. Our parents had to teach us control, and had make sure we could maintain it when we were off on our own before we were allowed to go anywhere without supervision, so really it was anywhere from two to three years before were were allowed to go into town alone."  
"So how old are you, anyway?" asked Scott  
"Well, let's see how was born in 1955 so about 160 years old," Bryon said after thinking about it for a minute.

Scott nearly choked at that, Bryon was like seven times his age.

"Hey, hey, calm down," Bryon soon as he continued to run a hand up and down Scott's arm. "My age doesn't really mean anything at all."

"What do you mean?" asked Scott. "Your like seven times my age, I must seem like a baby to you."  
"Not true," Bryon said. "I might be a 160 or so but that doesn't mean a damn thing I promise you. To my kind age doesn't mean anything. We are creatures of instinct and the mating bond is part of that. The mating bond never would have formed between us if we weren't compatible personalitywise."

"But… But… But…" Scott began seeming unable to finish his thought.

"Tell me something Scott, what age do I look to you?" asked Bryon.

"No more than 18 or 19, actually," Scott admitted. "That was why I was surprised when you told me you were 21 when we first met."

"So tell me something Scott, do you think I look too old to you for us to be dating?"

"Well no," Scott admitted finally seeing the purpose of Bryon's question. "In fact a lot of other men will probably be envious that I have such a handsome younger man at my beck and call."

"There you see, that is exactly what I mean, age doesn't mean a damn thing to the vampire race," Bryon said. "My father was much older then my mother when they met as Bella was human at the time and so had aged normally. Besides physically we don't look that much apart in age, really no more than three or four years so nobody will question why we are together since that amount of time is nothing. 160 is just a number nothing more."

"I'll try not to let your age a bother me," Scott said finally.

"When you are a vampire you'll realize that the years can pass by very fast as time means absolutely nothing to our race. 10 years or even 50 will pass by in the blink of an eye and you'll eventually wonder where the time went," Bryon said.

Scott blinked at that. "I have a hard time imagining that," Scott admitted. "Of course I also can't imagine not aging from the time I am changed either so that is probably why it is hard to think of 10 years or even 100 passing by in what seems like no time at all."

"Yes, most humans do seem to have trouble with that particular concept and it more than likely has to do with the fact that their lives are so short. Really humans only live up to 150 or so years in this century before they die." Bryon said.

"So why don't you tell me the names of your siblings in chronological order," Scott suggested. "Alright," Bryon agreed. "You'll meet all of them eventually but most of them are out traveling the world and the few that are visiting our parents for awhile were told to stay out of the house until asked to come back in order to not overwhelm you with to many vampires all at once as I know very well that even one or two vampires can be very intimidating."

"Like stepping into a den filled with vipers," Scott suggested with just an edge of humor lacing his voice.

"That's a good comparison," Bryon agreed calmly grabbing Scott's hand in his and raising it to his lips giving his knuckles several very light kisses.

Scott blushed at the gesture of affection from Bryon and he had no idea what he did as he wasn't one to blush easily and yet Bryon could literally turn him into a puddle of goo in just a few seconds. Bryon kissing his knuckles like that was such a sweet, uncomplicated gesture that silently spoke of Bryon's love for him that it made Scott go all soft inside and realize that despite their age differences he loved Bryon with his whole heart and soul and knew that Bryon felt the same.

"I love you," Scott told him his voice chocked full of very complicated emotions. Bryon looked away from the road and glanced at him.

"Why the sudden declaration of love?" asked Bryon. "Not that I'm complaining mind you as I love you to, it just seemed to come out of the blue that's all."

"It was way you kissed my knuckles," Scott finally admitted blushing just a little. "It was such a sweet, romantic gesture that it made me realize our age differences doesn't really mean anything and that I love you so much that I don't know what I would do if I lost you."

"You won't ever lose me," Bryon promised, his voice suddenly husky with his many swirling emotions. "I love you, and if there is one thing that we Whitlocks are besides stubborn that is, it is very possessive of what we consider ours and you are mine and no one else's." Bryon's voice became a deep menacing growl by the end, but for some reason Scott wasn't scared of it at all as he somehow instinctively knew that Bryon would never hurt him.

"Shh, calm down, Bryon," Scott said running a hand soothingly along Bryon's arm, even removing his seatbelt leaning over and giving the nape of Bryon's neck a gentle kiss, while running one hand through his blond hair at the same time. "You have me as I swear I'm not going anywhere and from this moment on I am yours for eternity."

Bryon nearly wrecked the car at Scott's words but managed to regain control in time. "You mean it? You want to be with me forever? You'll let me turn you into a vampire, voluntarily?"

"Yes, yes and yes," Scott said seriously answering all three of Bryon's questions. "If you love me even half as much as I do you I have no idea how you have resisted taking me and making me yours for so long as I am having trouble controlling myself from just attacking you right here."

A deep, primal growl rumbled out of Bryon's chest and he quickly pulled over to the side of the road, turned off the car engine, undid his seatbelt and pulled Scott onto his lap giving him a very deep, searing kiss that caused Scott's heart to start to beat in triple time.

"A human's feelings are nothing compared to a vampire's as our species is just better equipped to handle stronger emotion," Bryon said as soon as he had broken the kiss so that Scott could breath. "So in other words what I feel for you is at least twice, maybe even three or four times what you can feel for me until after you are changed."

Scott blinked as he tried to imagine Bryon's feelings for him being three or four times more powerful as his own which was nearly impossible.

"Why don't I show you," Bryon suggested when he felt Scott's emotions of incomprehension.

"How are you going to do that?" asked Scott.

Bryon didn't respond and just sent Scott all his feelings of love, lust and need of him with his talent.

Scott sat there silent as the feelings Bryon sent him coursed through him so strongly that his heart beat faster. He was actually surprised that with his heart beating so frantically that it wasn't winging it's way out of his chest.

"Whoah!" Scott exclaimed finally blinking rapidly as if to clear his vision.

"You okay?" asked Bryon sounding worried as Scott sat as still as a statue totally silent for more than 10 minutes after he had been sent his feelings and if it wasn't for Scott's frantically beating heart Bryon would've been more worried then he was already.

"What was that? Or maybe a better question would be how did you send me your feelings like that?"

"Well," Bryon began lowering his head and Scott could tell that he would be blushing if he had been capable of it. "Some vampires have an extra talent, something that was the strongest trait as a human, but since me and my siblings were never human some of us just inherited our parents talents. My father is empathic, he can feel others emotions and them send out or change others emotions as well."

"And you inherited your father's talent?" asked Scott even though it wasn't really a question.

"Yes and so did one of my sisters as well," Bryon said.

"Whoah! So that is how you really feel about me?" asked Scott feeling as though his whole world had been turned upside down in the last 10 minutes.

"Yes, that is how I really feel and I didn't even send my feelings for you at full strength as I was afraid that would stop your heart if I did and I definitely don't want you dead as I love you to much."

Scott nearly choked at Bryon's words. Bryon felt even more for him then the feelings he had sent? The emotions that had knocked him insensible for ten minutes? It was almost impossible for Scott to imagine Bryon's feelings for him being any stronger and yet Bryon had said they were and Scott had no reason to doubt him since as far he knew Bryon had never outright lied to him. Withheld information until they had gotten to know each other, yes, but lied no.

"I know it's hard to imagine, but true nonetheless," Bryon commented as he restarted the car and continued driving into town. "Just wait until you are a vampire and I send you what I feel for you for the first time and what I just made you feel while you were still human will pale in comparison."

"When are you going to change me?" asked Scott feeling just a little apprehensive.

"That's up to you," Bryon told him. "We could do it tomorrow or we could wait a month or two. In any case I'm almost positive that my parents are going to want to move to a new location before we start transforming you into a vampire because it is better to go where nobody knows you just in case."

"Wise precaution," admitted Scott after a moment of thinking about it. "I'll just have disappeared off the face of the Earth not that anybody will really care as I'll be with the only man who truly loves me."

"Actually that's not really true," Bryon said squeezing Scott's hand. "My mother already loves you and is beginning to consider you another son if only because you have made me so happy, but that will change once she really gets to know you and my father had already grown fond of you as well and is also beginning to think of you as one of his children. Melodie is also already halfway in love with you, but will not make any moves in your direction, because the bond between mates is sacred. Besides my sister would never try to steal somebody I was seeing."

"So your sister hasn't found a mate yet?" asked Scott.

"No and in fact only my brother Trey and my sister Brianna have."

"Is that why your parents were so accepting when you told them you were gay? Since your mate is male and you already said that mate bonds are sacred."

"That's part of it, certainly, but only a very small part," Bryon said. "My parents truly don't care if all of their children are gay or only half are. One of the reasons the human population is so against gay people is because of the if you can't have children, what good are you mentality. Back thousands of years ago children were the way that the Earth became populated and some of that way of thinking still remains even today. Also part of it is that the bible is also against homosexuality. In the vampire world though things are different as normally a vampire cannot have children and so it doesn't really matter if a vampire does find their mate if they are the same gender as you are. It doesn't even matter if you are male with a male mate even if you thought before than that you were straight because when you find your mate your whole attitude changes and your whole life become centered around that person. The whole concept of course applies to the females as well."

"All right, that's enough for right now as I think you are going to blow out my brain if you give me any other information tonight," Scott protested only halfway teasing. "Give me a few days to absorb what you have told me, before you try to tell me anything else as I am after all only human with a human's brain capacity and understanding."

"Just wait until you are a vampire and you will discover that instead of using just 5 or 10% of your brain's capacity you will be a will start using 100%."

"Your brain expands that much once you are changed?" asked Scott in genuine surprise.

"Oh yes, and so you will go from being intelligent man you already are to even more intelligent. You memory will go from faulty to being eidetic," Bryon said just a little teasingly.

"Hey! My memory is not faulty," Scott protested laughingly not in the least offended.

"No, but humans start to forget things as they get older while a vampire memory is much stronger and we never forget anything. We remember every happy moment, every moment we were lonely, and every moment of making love. For example the minute I met you will be etched in my memory forever and I will never forget a single detail."

"I'll never forget either as the night I met you changed my life."

"You might actually," Bryon said looking upset at the prospect.

"What do you mean?" asked Scott confused.

"When a human is transformed into a vampire human memories start to fade and eventually you will remember very little about your former human life, or that is what my mom and dad say anyway. Of course every human is also different and some remember more than others."  
"Then I am going to do my best to remember every single moment of how we met and all of our time together," Scott swore vehemently. "The rest of my past doesn't matter to me so long as I remember you and me and how we met as well as every single moment of the time we spent together afterwards."  
"I hope you can," Bryon said looking touched by Scott's vow.  
"How long does the transformation take?" asked Scott changing the subject.  
"Three days," Bryon said. "I have no intention of leaving your side at all doing that time. I plan on talking to you and soothing your pain as much as I can with my gift, just as my father did for my mother when she was going through her own transformation."

Scott thought of the three days of pain that he was going to undergo in the very near future and wasn't looking forward to it and if the truth be known it scared him shitless. On the other hand though he was looking forward to spending centuries with Bryon so he would just have to think positively as he knew that was the only way to go. Besides the pain would only last for a very short time and then he would be nearly impossible to injure physically at least.

"Not to deliberately change the subject, but here we are," said Bryon as he pulled up in front of the restaurant.

"Good, because I am starving," said Scott.

"Yes, I can hear your stomach demanding to be fed," Bryon teased.

Scott just stuck out his mate and didn't respond.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"Ready?" asked Bryon who looked incredibly nervous about being the one to bite Scott and fill him with his venom. It wasn't that he didn't want to as he would rather Scott have his venom running in his veins then anyone else's, like his father's, but he had never even tried to change a human before and he didn't really want for his first try to be with the man he loved, just in case he couldn't stop himself from killing his mate.

It was just over a month later and Bryon had been right in that fact that his parents would want to move to another location just to be on the safe side and that had taken time. Even if they had had plenty of locations to choose from that were nice and isolated, it took time to move all their stuff to the location they had chosen and to get the most important rooms cleaned and settled enough to proceed.

Scott had been warned about what would happen, the pain he was going to be in for three straight days after Bryon's venom was injected into his system, several times actually over the last month. Scott had also been told exactly what being a newborn was going to be like, about how he would be stronger for the first year thanks to both his blood and a vampire's venom being inside his body. Jasper had explained very calmly the physical changes his human body would be going through, the way the skin hardened so it would be nearly impossible to injure except by another of their kind, the way his organs stopped never to move again, the way his hair would lengthen a couple of inches and also when Scott awoke for the first time he would have bright red eyes that would gradually change to a darker red during his first year. Jasper then explained the changes that would take place inside his body, well besides the organs stopping that had already been mentioned. Jasper explained to Scott about how he would go from only using a small percentage of his brain's actual capacity to using all of it and how his vampire memories would be so much stronger then his human ones and how his memory would become eidetic so that he would never forget a single detail of anything he experienced or learned no matter how many centuries he lived and how he would no longer be able to sleep and so would have to find a way to keep himself occupied twenty-four hours a day since he would not be able to waste eight or so hours sleeping every night. He explained that once he was a vampire he would remain the age he had been changed at as if frozen in time and Scott had nodded saying that Bryon had already explained some of these things to him, but not all of them.

None of the members of the family bothered to mention how Scott's skin would sparkle like a million diamonds had been embedded in it whenever he went out in the sun as the whole family felt that Scott wouldn't believe it until he experienced it for himself.

"There's no reason to be nervous son," Jasper told Bryon, calmly clapping him on the shoulder. "I will be right here and if you do start to drain Scott instead of changing him I will be able to stop you."

"While that helps I am still very nervous," said Bryon. "I've never tried changing a human into a vampire before. I've hunted humans aplenty and drained them for my meals, but I've never deliberately tried to change someone into a vampire."

"Well, I am ready, whenever you are," said Scott as he lay on the bed in nothing but an undershirt and a pair of underwear. He had been told that he needed to be wearing as little as possible as Bryon was not only going to bite him over the pulse point of his neck, but on his wrists and ankles to in order to get as much venom flowing as possible, to speed up the transformation.

"Alright," Bryon said as he came to stand at the side of the bed where Scott lay. Bryon studied Scott's body for a moment and practically salivated as Scott had a very slim, muscular and athletic body that he could barely wait to make love to for the first time.

"I trust you," Scott told him, blushing a little as he noticed the way Bryon ogled his body. The lust and need in Bryon's red eyes made Scott want to fuck him senseless and never let him go and in three days that would be possible, but right now he needed to get his libido under control.

Bryon would have blushed if he could have for he hadn't meant to get caught ogling his mate's body which he couldn't wait to touch and kiss as soon as the transformation was complete.

Jasper shot his son an amused, but understanding look and Bryon began to radiate embarrassment.

Bryon leaned down over of the vein in Scott's neck and gently bit down taking just a few gulps of blood.  
More! I want more! The monster within him roared. Drain him! Drain him dry! You know you want to!

If I do that then you and I will soon follow Scott into death, Bryon argued. He is our mate and you know very well what will happen to us if he dies!

The monster within Bryon subsided at that as he did indeed know what would happen if Scott were to die. What do you know his father's advice had worked, Bryon thought as he moved from Scott's neck to his wrist and then to his ankles. Jasper had advised his son that if his bloodlust reared its ugly head he was to remind that part of him that if Scott died he would soon follow. It worked for me when I transformed Bella as the vampire part of me also wanted to drain my mate dry instead of changing her and telling that part of me that if she died he would as well had done the trick.

"See I knew you could do it," Jasper told his son as soon as Bryon finished injecting his venom into Scott's body and stood back up.

Scott immediately began to scream and whimper as the venom raced through his body.

"It's only because of the advice you gave you that I was able to not drain him dry, so thanks, dad," Bryon replied feeling extremely grateful that he had managed to bite Scott without draining him He gave his father a distracted hug.

"You're more than welcome," Jasper said. "I would not want you to kill Scott on accident and not only because I don't want you to end your existence, although that is certainly part of it, but because your mother and I have come to care about Scott as well."

"I know and I told Scott as much although he really didn't believe me," said Bryon. "I know that my brothers and sisters that he has met like him as well which is all the good as far as I'm concerned as I wouldn't want for them to not like Scott. I know there is bound to be some friction occasionally as even vampires can get along all the time but I would still like for them to at least respect each other."

"Which will happen in time," said Jasper. "Your siblings love you just as you love them and they will try to get along with Scott just because of that fact and it will not be long before they really do get along with him because they like and respect him and not just for your sake."

"You're right," Bryon said looking a little less worried.

"Now I'll leave you and Scott alone and I'll have someone bring you a meal as you'll need one before Scott finishes transforming. I'm also going to have a couple of the children go into town and bring back an assortment of humans since Scott as a newborn will be very hungry when he wakes."

"Thanks dad, I love you," said Bryon distractedly.

"I love you to and you're very welcome," Jasper replied his tone affectionate, before leaving the room to give out his orders to the few of his and Bella's children that weren't out traveling the world.

Bryon sat down beside Scott's bed, took his hand and began talking to him as his mate screamed in pain from the venom racing through his system.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"And when you finally have your bloodlust under control we'll travel the world, just you and me," Bryon said his voice not in the least hoarse even though he had been talking for hours. It was almost 3 days later and Scott didn't have much more time to go before the transformation would be complete.

"Bryon, can't you stop long enough and eat something," came the voice of Bryon's oldest brother Paddy.

"Paddy, when did you get here? Weren't you traveling in England?"

"I got here yesterday but I didn't want to bother you. When I heard the news that you had finally found your mate I had to come see for myself," Patrick replied bringing forth a struggling human for his brother to feed on. "Now why don't you drain her and then you can go back to what you were doing as it shouldn't be long before your mate wakes up."

"His name is Scott," Bryon informed his brother.

"Before Scott wakes up," Patrick said without missing a beat.

"No, no," the woman whimpered as Bryon grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. "Please spare me!"

Bryon didn't bother to reply and simply held onto her arm so tightly that he crushed the bones to powder and then bit down on the artery that was in the side of the neck and started to drain her dry ignoring her whimpers and screams of pain from where he had crushed the bones in her arm.

"Thanks, bro, I feel much better now," Bryon said as he finally finished draining the woman dry and then threw the the corpse towards his brother. "I hadn't realized how thirsty I had gotten until you mentioned it. I suppose I was so focused on Scott that I just didn't notice."

"And that is exactly how it should be," Patrick told his brother, "and you're welcome. Now I'll remove the corpse for you and leave you to your talking. It shouldn't be long before Scott wakes up and we can all meet him. Well, the ones that haven't met him already anyway."

"So who else has come home besides you?" asked Bryon just a little distracted.

"Well Gabe is here as is Ange, Rory, Rowan and Troy, but I believe that is it, besides the ones that were already here," Patrick said. "To tell you the truth dad thought it was a bad idea to have everyone here as he thought it might be overwhelming to have so many other vampires around so the others were told not to come home for the moment anyway."

Bryon nodded as that made sense and as it was half his siblings were here.

Patrick observed his younger brother for a minute and then quietly picked up the corpse of the woman from Bryon's meal and left the room shutting the door very gently behind him.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

Bryon stopped speaking as his mate's screaming cut off suddenly and his heart gave one final frantic beat and then stopped completely.

"I'm thirsty," came a voice that was much deeper and huskier than before, but still very recognizable.

"Scott?" asked Bryon softly, praying that his mate remembered him

His father had told him that a lot of vampires didn't remember their human lives at all if their change had been particularly violent. Scott change though had been anything but violent as Bryon had made him as comfortable as possible and it helped that Scott hadn't been in any kind of accident or wasn't dying at the time his change had begun.

Scott opened his eyes, blinking rapidly several times as if trying to clear his vision.

"You okay?" Bryon asked quietly his tone soothing. Scott sat up and spun around all in a single motion and stared at Bryon for a few seconds.

"Who are you? Where am I?" asked Scott.

"Don't you remember," asked Bryon looking worried. "Your name is Scott Nathaniel Blackwood, but everybody calls you Scotty. We met at a club called the New Wave in New York."

Scott's brows furrowed as he struggled to remember. "Bryon, your name is Bryon? Is that right or am I entirely off the mark?"

"That's right," Bryon said trying to control his elation that Scott remembered his name. "Do you remember anything else?"

Scott's eyebrows furrowed again—which Bryon thought was adorable—and it was only seconds later when he said, "I remember the pain I was in. I truly believed I was burning in hell for whatever sins I had committed and then suddenly the pain just stopped."

"Anything else?" asked Bryon gently.

"I seem to have a vague memory of us sitting on a couch somewhere making out rather heavily," said Scott feeling embarrassed.

Bryon's cheeks would have been a bright fire engine red as he remembered several session like that.

"So that happened," said Scott noticing Bryon's reaction.

"Yes," said Bryon.

Scott's brows came together again and finally he said hesitantly, "We are mates, right? I seem to remember a conversation where you were telling me that you had been drawn to me the second you looked into my eyes and that you were a vampire."

"Yes, that is accurate," Bryon agreed jumping up and down inside, "but we can discuss the details after we get you fed as I know that your throat is burning like a forest fire right now."

"Blood?" asked Scott his voice plaintive.

"Yes, blood," Bryon said. "Follow me and I'll lead you to where some of my siblings locked up some humans for you and me to feed on."

Bryon opened the bedroom door and walked through it and down the stairs and towards a converted wine cellar, Scott following along like an eager puppy, which pleased Bryon no end as Scott had been unsure if he would be able to stand the guilt of killing humans, who he after all had used to be just like. Hopefully Scott wouldn't feel to guilty once he had actually fed, but Bryon would be there to help him work through the guilt of killing another sentient being even if this was the way that vampires had always lived and even if it was something they had to do in order to survive for a vampire that didn't feed regularly, was a vampire that was an extreme danger to the human population and also of the human population finding out about them. If a vampire didn't feed regularly their instincts would take over and if they got hungry enough they would race to the nearest town in a frenzy of hunger and kill a hundred people, or more tearing them apart, but not really drinking their blood. That kind of wild crazed newborn would have to be destroyed as if a vampire went without blood for to long—especially a newborn—they became crazed and uncontrollable monsters without a hope of saving them and it was just better to destroy a new vampire if that happened. At least that was what his father had told him, although it wasn't something he had experienced himself.

As they went through the house Bryon noticed that it was very quiet and he knew that the family that was present was waiting for them in the living room and wouldn't interfere with a new vampire's first feeding. For one thing Scott didn't know any of them well enough to trust them and in fact the only vampire that Scott knew as anything other than a mere acquaintance was Bryon. Unfortunately there had been no time for the rest of the family to build relationships with Scott before his transformation took place. Even though Scott hadn't gone through the transformation for a month he had spent every minute that he wasn't sleeping or eating with Bryon, which was as it should be.

"Here we are," said Bryon opening the door to the cellar with the key that one of the others had left on a hook by the door.

"How do we get down?" asked Scott seeing that there were only the remnants of a staircase that had allowed someone to get down to the cellar in the past. Scott looked into the dimly lit room down below from where he was standing, with his new, improved vampire eyesight allowing him to see the details clearly even though there was so little light in which to see by.

"We jump," Bryon explained. "While it is to high for a human to jump and make it without some kind of help, we vampires can jump great distances and the distance between the floor of the cellar to up here is nowhere near an impossible jump for our kind—either way."  
"I would think that would be the point," Scott said. "We can get in and out, but the humans can't."

"Precisely," Bryon agreed. "Would you like to go first?"

"Sure," Scott said taking a giant leap from the doorway. When he finally landed just a few seconds later it was in the middle of the room amongst a knot of humans. It didn't take any instructions from Bryon for Scott to figure out how to feed for as soon as he heard the humans frantic heartbeats instincts took over and he was on his first human draining the man dry in the blink of an eye.

After Bryon was sure that Scott knew what he was doing he joined his mate and also grabbed a human to feed on as he hadn't fed except for that one woman that his brother had brought him over a day ago and so he was very thirsty.

"Mmm, that was the most delicious thing I can remember ever having tasted," Scott said his tongue licking lower lip as soon as he had finished draining his first corpse.

"Well, if you are not full why don't you have another?" Bryon suggested. "We have plenty and for the next year you'll be eating down here until after your newborn year is over. Once it is my father and I will teach you how to hunt."

"And what are we going to do after we had finished feeding?" asked Scott, just a little curiously.

"Well after we finish here we have to go reintroduce you to the rest of the family," Bryon explained. "After that though I plan on fucking senseless now that you are not human anymore and therefore easily breakable."

"I won't object to that, I promise," Scott told Bryon with a sly smirk that made Bryon's mouth go figuratively dry. "I've been wanting you for quite some time and I know that for a fact as I am beginning to remember more and more now that I have some fresh blood in my system."

"Well, let's finish up here so that we can go and do to that. Only don't plan on leaving the bed until you need to feed again," said Bryon sounding eager and truthfully Scott was the same way.

"Why don't you fagots let us go!" yelled one man looking ready to charge at the two.

"What did you call us?" asked Bryon whirling around very quickly causing the man who had spoken to fall silent and shrink back in fear. "Answer me!"

"I believe he called us fagots," said Scott stalking gracefully towards the man and when he got close enough he gripped the man's shirt ripping it to shreds accidentally as he had not yet learned to control his strength since he was only minutes old. "I believe this man has sealed his fate, wouldn't you agree?" Scott asked Bryon calmly while fire burning in his newly red eyes let Bryon know that his mate was very pissed off. Not to mention the emotions that Scott was radiating, which were anger, disgust and loathing as well as many more all of them negative and directed at the man who didn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

"Yes, I agree," Bryon said coming to stand beside his mate. "He would've died anyway but he might have lived another couple of days anyway if he had kept his mouth shut."

"Well, I believe it is a case of where his mouth overran his brain and I believe it is called the foot in mouth disease, although that usually doesn't mean the person's death," Scott said.

"Want to share him?" Bryon suggested. "Mom and dad do it all the time and they tell me that it is because they are mates that they are able to do so as normally no vampire will share a meal with another and will attack if another invades their territory while they are feeding."

"Why not," Scott said. "I would be delighted to share this man with you."

"You take one side of his neck and I'll take the other," Bryon instructed.

Scott nodded and they both struck at the same instant and started draining the man's blood rapidly, while looking directly into each others eyes and holding hands as they did so.

It took only half the time to drain the loudmouth dry and both Bryon and Scott thought it was the most erotic experience they had ever had as both their penises had immediately stood at attention and became as hard as—well—stone.

"Is your throat still burning or has it stopped?" asked Bryon.

"It's still burning a little," Scott admitted after a moment.

"If it still burning then you need to drink another. If it has stopped and then you don't necessarily need anymore right this minute although you can still drink until you feel as if you are going to explode. If you do that after your newborn year is over you won't need to hunt quite as often."

Scott followed his mate's instructions and grabbed a random human immediately latching on and began to drain her blood.

When Scott had finished he dropped the corpse to the ground and said, "My throat is no longer burning and that's good right?"

"Yes, that's very good as that means you're no longer thirsty," Bryon assured him. "So ready to go see the rest of the family?"

"Not really, but we might as well get it over with."

"Don't be so downcast, they already love you even if you don't remember that they do. If it helps think of it is kind of reintroduction since you've already been introduced once."

"Alright, let's get going," Scott said making the jump from the cellar to the kitchen doorway easily, Bryon following.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"Well, finally, little brother, what took you so long?" asked Melodie as Bryon and Scott came into the den where everybody was waiting.

"Melodie," Jasper barked calmly, "now is not the time."

Melodie hung her head in shame and fell silent.

"Scotty, I would like you to meet my family, my father, Jasper Whitlock, my mother Bella, my twin sister, Melodie, my older brothers Patrick, Gabriel and Trevor, my younger sisters Meredith, Angelina and Chloe and my younger brothers Rory, Rowan, Troy and Gavin, who you borrowed clothes from," Bryon introduced.

"It's nice to meet all of you again," Scott said politely.

"Don't you remember meeting us before?" asked Gavin curiously.

"Very vaguely, but its not clear," Scott said looking apologetical with a shrug. "Sorry."

"There is nothing to apologize for as that is to be expected," Jasper said as he came over and shook Scott's hand. "When a human goes through the transformation the memory suffers the consequences and most humans don't remember a whole lot about their lives before. By the time their newborn year is over they only have a few clear memories of ever being human."

"What do you remember about your life before you were changed?" asked Meredith curiously.

"I remember meeting Bryon in a club, although I don't remember the name of the club at the moment," Scott admitted. "I believe I remember most if not all of the memories that involve Bryon as I seem to vaguely recall going to great lengths so I didn't forget how we met or our time together."

"You told me you were going to try that as you said that the rest of your past didn't matter to you, but that you wanted to remember every moment of how we met and all of our time together," Bryon revealed.

"That is so sweet," Meredith said looking a little sad that she had not yet found her mate. If Meredith was anything it was a romantic at heart which was kind of strange if you thought about it since she was one of the undead.

Bryon and Scott spent a few minutes chitchatting with the other members of the family just to be polite, but when Bryon stood up Scott immediately did the same.

"If you'll excuse us I believe Scott and I have some unfinished business to take care of," Bryon said politely.

"And what kind of business… Oh..." Troy said embarrassed as he realized that Bryon and Scott more than likely wanted to finalize the mates bond between them. He felt like an idiot for not realizing it immediately, although it just hadn't occurred to him, probably because as far as he knew he was completely straight and not gay or bisexual.

"Don't expect to see either of us anytime soon," Bryon said as he headed towards the stairs and his room, Scott eagerly following.

"Don't worry, we won't. Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Melodie called after them.

Bryon nearly choked at that as he knew his twin had had a series of lovers, all male, both human and vampire over the years. A lot of the humans had not survived and died during lovemaking or been so injured because she had forgotten to watch her strength that Melodie had had to feed off them afterwards which didn't seem to bother her in the slightest.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

What did your sister mean when she said: Don't do anything I wouldn't do?" asked Scott as soon as they had gotten to Bryon's room and shut the door.

"Well, Melodie has always been a very vivacious lover and she has killed or seriously injured more then one human man that she had sex with by not watching her strength, which is one of the reasons I didn't want to make love to you until after you were changed as I was afraid I'd hurt you or kill you on accident," Bryon explained just a little embarrassed to be talking about his sister's previous lovers.

"Well, now that I am like you and have been properly fed why don't we get started?" Scott suggested with a knowing smirk knowing very well how Bryon was going to respond to that as he remembered every single one of their makeout session, while he had been human.

Bryon didn't respond verbally but instead stripped out of his clothes in less than a second and also helped Scott out of his clothes so he wouldn't rip them to shred if he tried to do it himself.

"I've been wanting to do this to you for quite some time," Bryon commented his voice husky with desire as he took some lube out of the drawer of his bedside table. "I'm afraid that this first time is going to be rough as I don't think I can be gentle since I've been wanting you for so long. How I resisted taking you when you were human I don't have a clue, other than the fact that I am one stubborn son of a bitch."

"Just get on with it, I can take a little roughness," Scott ordered this voice thick with suppressed desire.

Bryon nodded gently kissing Scott on the lips, his tongue demanding entrance to Scott's mouth, while at the same time his hands were opening the bottle of lube.

As soon as he had to top off the lube he spread a large dollop onto his hands and rubbed them together until it was spread evenly. He then spread it over his cock which was standing at attention as straight as an arrow, ready to go.

"Now I want you to tell me when you are about to come," Bryon said gently.

Scott nodded not bothering to ask why Bryon wanted to know when he was about to climax as he suspected he already knew that answer. He had been told a week ago that in order to complete the bond they were going to have the urge to bite each other and that he wasn't to resist that urge to bite if it overtook him and that Bryon would do the same. Scott watched as Bryon spread the lube over his cock, which made him even harder as a result. After Bryon was done doing that he spread a little bit more lube onto his fingers and gently penetrated Scott's anus or hole making sure to rub the lube in throughly, so that Scott would be nice and slick and therefore easier to penetrate and that meant less pain for his mate, which he was all for. Scott whimpered and made other little sounds of pleasure as Bryon's touch felt so good. It was almost like Bryon was meant to be the only one doing this to him as when he had had sex with other men it had never felt so right as what Bryon was doing to him.

"That feels so good," Scott said his accent even thicker then normal. "You haven't even really done anything yet but just feeling your fingers in my hole makes me want to feel your cock sheathed inside my body."

"Your wish is my command and my extreme pleasure," Bryon said softly. "I love you, I don't think I tell you that often enough," Bryon added huskily as Scott lay on his belly.

Bryon positioned his cock and unable to wait another second to be sheathed inside his mate's glorious body he rammed his cock into what he considered his home.

"Ohhh, that feels so good," Bryon whimpered in pleasure. "You're so tight and slick."

Bryon withdrew a little and then rammed himself into Scott's body again causing both men to whimper and make other little sounds of pleasure.

"I'm going to come," Scott warned a few seconds later his voice and accent so thick that he was not easily understandable.

At those words the monsters inside both Bryon and Scott took over and Bryon quickly withdrew his cock, flipped Scott onto his back, lowered himself to where he was straddling Scott's stomach with his legs on either side of his mate's body and was just in time to see Scott's engorged penis start to release its cum all over his stomach and for his mate to make long low sounds of intense pleasure as his orgasm ripped through him like a hurricane. Bryon, who had also felt his climax building all the time that he was was fucking Scott, came instantly when he saw the look of intense pleasure on Scott's face.

Just as Scott's and Bryon's climaxes were coming to an end both men instinctively reacted and while Scott leaned up his bright red eyes rolled back from the intense, mind consuming pleasure he was feeling, Bryon leaned down and both men bit down onto each others shoulders, their teeth penetrating each others stonelike flesh marking each other for all time.

"Whoah!" Scott muttered as soon as he thought he could speak.

"Yes, whoah!" Bryon agreed. "That is a very good word for it. I'm not lying when I say that is the most intense orgasm I've ever had in my 160 years."

When Bryon saw the jealousy on Scott's face he hastened to reassure him. "There is no need to worry about my feelings for you, Scotty," Bryon said. "All those of the men's were years before you were even a gleam in your parents eyes. They were a way to relieve my sexual tension, that didn't involve me masturbating, nothing more. Besides every single one of them is dead as I drained all of them afterwards, if I didn't outright kill them that is just from fucking them senseless since a lot of times I forgot to watch my strength."

"I have no right to be jealous," Scott admitted after a moment the jealousy leaving his face. "I seem to vaguely remember that I was no virgin before I met you."

"You certainly weren't," Bryon said laughing now as the tension left his body once the jealousy left Scott's face and his emotions. "You told me about quite a few of your sexcapades."

"You're not jealous?" asked Scott wonder in his voice.

"No, I don't see any reason to get all jealous when you're mine now and those antics of yours were way before you met me," Bryon explained. "Of course now that you are mine if you even think about fucking another man you will regret it and so will he," Bryon added his expression turning deadly serious. "I don't care if who you fucked is human or vampire, they will end up in a great deal of very tiny pieces that I will make sure to burn until there is nothing left, but ash and then you and I will be having a little discussion that will not be pleasant."

"You don't need to worry about me fucking anyone else," Scott assured Bryon raising a hand and running a finger along his mate's cheek tenderly causing Bryon to lean into his mate's gentle, loving touch craving more as he would never get enough of the love he felt every time Scott touched him. "You're the only one for me I promise you and all those sexcapades as you put it are a thing of the past, unless they are with you. I feel the bond we share, the one you told me about when I was still human," Scott added after a moment. "Just thinking about fucking other men makes me almost literally sick to my stomach if that was possible for a vampire that is. The bond between us it is so strong that I am sure if I was still human it would literally knock me off my feet."

Bryon relaxed at Scott's words as he could feel that his mate meant every word he uttered. There would never be another man for him and he, Bryon was all Scott needed or wanted to be blissfully happy.

"Good, make sure you keep it that way and we won't have any problems," Bryon ordered cuddling into Scott's side contentedly.

"And you had better do the same," Scott told his mate only halfway joking. "I am very possessive and I guarantee you the same thing will happen to any other man that isn't me that I find you fucking."

"Won't happen," Bryon told him sounding too happy to get upset, besides he liked his mate's jealous possessiveness as it made him feel loved. "I've been waiting for my mate for 160 years and I don't plan on fucking any other man that isn't you. I won't claim I was a virgin before I met you because that would be a lie as you very well know, but I will promise that those men are a thing of the past and I can't even think about fucking any other man that isn't you without me wanting to rip something to shreds."

"So long as we understand each other," Scott said cuddling into Bryon's side happily.

"Now that we got that settled ready for another round?" asked Bryon as his cock was already standing at attention again and had been for the past few minutes. One of the great things about being a vampire was that your body never got tired and that included your cock of course.

"Where you are concerned I'm always ready, for you are the most handsome, gorgeous, desirable man I ever had the pleasure of making love to and nobody else will ever make me feel as you do," Scott said his own cock standing at attention as well, "This time though I get to fuck you instead of you fucking me."

"That's fine with me," Bryon assured his mate. "We can switch whenever we feel like it, but since I was just on top it's your turn now."

"Good, I'm glad you don't feel like you have to be the dominant partner all the time," Scott said grinning happy that Bryon was willing to let him top sometimes. "I seem to vaguely remember some men I fucked way before I met you always had to be on top and never gave the other partner the opportunity to do that."

"They probably had control issues," Bryon said, "not that it matters as you're mine now and I guarantee you I don't have any control issues and will be perfectly ecstatic to let you top sometimes so long you let me do the same."

"I will," Scott promised even as he turned Bryon onto his back, straddled him and began running gentle hands all over his mate's body while kissing, nipping and licking every single inch of Bryon's chest and stomach.

Bryon purred long and loud, as Scott took one of his nipples into his mouth and began to suck on it, while pinching the other one gently, since Scott knew he was stronger then Bryon for the moment and would be for the next year.

Bryon could feel his climax rapidly building and knew he wouldn't last very long at all, not that it really mattered as it would take time and lots of practice to not orgasm so quickly and they definitely had the time to get good at making love until they both could last more than a handful of minutes.

"Mmm, you like that do you," Scott murmured as he finally released Bryon's nipples and began to work his way down his mate's body to Bryon's balls. Once Scott reached Bryon's testicles he took them into his mouth and slowly began to suck on them running his tongue over each one.

Bryon groaned and muttered his voice thick, "You're killing me here. Quit playing around and get on with it."

"Oh no I am only getting started," Scott promised. "By the time I need to drain another two of three humans in order to stop the burning in my throat, you and I will both have had at least a dozen orgasms apiece, I guarantee you. Both of us will be so sated by that time that neither of will want to move from this bed."

"I certainly won't object to that," Bryon said happily. "After you feed again though we need to talk about something."

"About what?" asked Scott removing his mouth from his mate's testicles long enough to ask.

"You'll find out soon enough," Bryon said. At Scott's worried look Bryon added, "It's nothing bad and in fact I consider it very good, but right now you were busy and this is not the time to discuss it."

Scott nodded very curious, but Bryon was right now was not the time to discuss it and so he happily got back to what he had been doing and that was licking and sucking his mate's testicles, very happily he might add as there was no other place he would rather be then between Bryon's legs bringing him to as yet untapped pleasure.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"So what is it you want to discuss a couple of days ago?" asked Scott laying with his head on Bryon's shoulder. The two of them had been fucking constantly switching back and forth from top to bottom for the last two days and it was only as Scott's throat began to burn that they knew they had to stop and get him fed, before the burn got so bad that Scott ran into town to kill some random human in front of witnesses, which would mean that they would all have to die.

It was now just over two days later and Scott and Bryon had just fed on some humans in the cellar and then taken the corpses and thrown them into the incinerator so that the dead bodies wouldn't start to stink up the cellar as they decomposed.

All the children of Jasper and Bella kept going into town and bringing back two or three humans every time they did so, so that the cellar was always full. They even had a removable metal ladder that made it easier to transport the humans down to what had used to be an old wine cellar, that was now used as a kind of storage facility for humans when it was needed. Once the humans were deposited all the vampire had to do was either climb the ladder or jump in order to get out and into the kitchen and then the ladder was of course removed and the door locked so none of the humans could escape and yet the corpses could be removed.

"Well, I was just wondering if you want to make our bond official," Bryon began just a little nervously.

"What do you mean official?" asked Scott clearly confused.

"Official, as in the human way of saying we want to be together forever, accepting no one else," Bryon explained.

When Scott still looked confused Bryon said, "Do you remember that conversation we had when you were still human and I told you I would love to marry you and bind myself to you permanently?"

Suddenly the confusion cleared and Scott said not daring to hope, "You mean get married? In the human fashion?"

"We don't have to," Bryon said hurriedly, "as our mating bond is kind of like marriage at least in the vampire world and we have definitely already consummated it."

"That we have," Scott agreed with a grin wide enough to split his face in two. "Several times."

"Several dozen times you mean," Bryon said laughing his grin also wide enough to split his face as he had never been so happy in his entire life.

Suddenly Scott sobered and said seriously, "I would love to make our bond official in the human world as well. Even if we just bought the wedding and engagement bands and told people we were married would be okay because it would keep at least most people away from asking us out on a date. Oh they might eye one of us like a piece of meat at the market, but most people will leave a married man alone and the ones that don't..." Scott's grin got even wider as he saw nothing wrong with weaning out some of the humans that were blotches on human society, drug dealers, drunks, prostitutes, rapist, forgers, murderers, bullies, muggers and the like or even just somebody who ticked him off by going after what was his.

"Won't be alive for very long afterwards, which will teach them not to mess with married couples," Bryon suggested knowing exactly what Scott was thinking.

"Exactly, and if reincarnation exists, maybe they will subconsciously remember that they died, because of their own stupidity of going after someone who was already taken and had told them so."

"Yes, we only go after the ones that are persistent," Bryon said liking the idea enormously. "You do realize that it is bound to happen with us being what we are?"

"What do you mean?" asked Scott confused.

"Well, you haven't had a chance to look into a mirror since you were changed, but you went from the handsome man you were already to absolutely stunningly gorgeous. Well, like me and my family," Bryon explained studying the planes of his mate's face admiringly. "All the little imperfections, moles, scars, birthmarks were burned away and you finished the transformation looking like some kind of god."

"Now that you mention it you do look even more exquisitely handsome then I remember you being when I was human, but I figured my memory was faulty," Scott said, studying Bryon's face intently.

"No, your memory is not faulty, you are just seeing me with your new, perfect vampire eyesight," Bryon explained. "Human eyesight is very weak compared to a vampire's and even those people that have supposed perfect 20/20 vision do not have the capacity to see us as we really look. Sure we look like gods and goddess to them, but if they had our eyesight we would look totally alien and completely unhuman instead of just stunningly gorgeous, without any of the obvious imperfections that most humans have."

"I see," said Scott in understanding. "So in other words most of the population can't help, but sigh and look at us like pieces of chocolate that they would just love to consume."

"Precisely, and a lot of them won't take a no I'm not interested for an answer. In the past I just avoided those types of people whenever possible, but now that I have you I think a change in tactics is definitely in order as I will not allow some female or male go after you like you belong to them. If they back off after you tell them you are not available, I won't make an example of them, but the ones who keep on bothering you constantly I will."

"Same goes for me," Scott said thinking that Bryon's idea was a good one. "I will not allow someone, either male or female to drape themselves all over you like you belong to them and some humans will do that even if you tell them you aren't interested and are taken."

"Believe me, I know it as it has happened more then once in the past," Bryon said with a roll of his eyes. "I've been looked at as nothing more than a piece of meat, draped all over, drooled on, both literally and figuratively hundreds of times in my 160 years of existence. Believe me when I say that the same thing will happen to you as well once you are free to get out among the humans. I never encouraged any of those women or the men who always draped themselves all over me or at least tried to get me attention, but they kept coming at me like I was a flame and they were the moths."

"You often find something or someone unbearably attractive especially when you cannot have it," Scott suggested.

"That is so true," Bryon said, "but for now we have better things to do then talk about this."

"Like what?" asked Scott, with a mischievous expression.

"Like I want your cock in my mouth so I can suck on it and make you come from that alone."

Scott gulped as Bryon certainly did have a way with words and he was looking forward to feeling Bryon's mouth on his penis.

"You are welcome to do what you will," said Scott.

"Yes I am," Bryon agreed seriously taking his mate's cock in his hands and running his tongue along the tip, "Your cock belongs to me, isn't that right?"

"Yes," Scott groaned as sensations of intense pleasure raced through him just from that alone.

"And the rest of you as well? Every single part of you isn't that right?"

"Yes, everything I am is yours to do with as you will," Scott agreed growling as Bryon continued to suck on his cock and play with his balls.

"That's right, you belong to me and no one else," Bryon said his voice a deep commanding growl.

"I belong to you," Scott agreed panting. "Only to you."

"Good, make sure you keep it that way for I am a very possessive and jealous vampire and no one gets to bring you to the brink of your orgasm only to pull you back, before you go over, but me. No one else gets to touch you the way I am for that is a right that is reserved solely for my pleasure," Bryon said finally taking Scott's penis fully into his mouth and sucking on it.

Scott groaned as the warm, wet heat of Bryon's mouth surrounded his cock, making him almost come instantly, although he managed not to as he wanted to last longer then a couple of minutes if at all possible.

Scott's fingers dug into the mattress of the bed as he struggled not to come as he instinctively thrust his hips upwards in order to increase the delectable friction that Bryon was causing with the way he was sucking on his cock.

Finally Scott could hold out no longer and plummeted over the edge of his climax, coming directly into Bryon's mouth, where he swallowed every drop of his mate's cum happily, even licking the tip to get every salty drop.

"You don't ever have to worry about finding me with anyone else as I belong solely and completely to you," Scott said seriously as soon as his climax had subsided and he could talk without panting. "I love you heart and soul and not just because I've never had such strong orgasms in my life before I met you, but because I love everything about you. Even the few things that annoy me I love, because they are part of what makes you who you are, the man I love and adore."

"And I love you, everything about you as well," Bryon said. "Even the few things about your personality that annoy me," he added with a grin, "because all of your traits made you who you are. Seriously though even mates get annoyed with each other occasionally, trust me I know."

"How would you know?" asked Scott with a raised eyebrow.

"You haven't met him yet but remember I mentioned my brother Trey?"

Scott nodded.

"Well, he and his mate Lindsey used to argue all the time after they originally got together until they got at least most of their differences ironed out. They still argue occasionally but not half as much as when the first found each other a little over ten years ago. Believe me when I say I've had to listen to some doozies, so don't expect us not to argue sometimes. Even for two people meant to be together that is not possible, we'll just never leave each other because of it, like some couples do."

"But then we have an excuse to make up afterwards," Scott suggested with a grin.

"There is that," Bryon agreed also with a grin. "Part of the original friction between Trey and Lindsey was because they were getting to know each other and being mates doesn't negate that particular minefield."

"But we knew each other for about two months beforehand, will that help?" asked Scott.

"Probably, although I can't say for sure," Bryon admitted. "I would make an educated guess that it will prevent at least some of the major arguments that Trey and Lindsey had when they first met since we did know each other beforehand, although I am sure that we will be discovering personality quirks, habits, likes and dislikes, for decades to come."

"Did you ever think that the reason the two of them argue also has a lot to do with their personalities, maybe they argue so they can make up?" Scott suggested.

"It's turned into that now, but when they first got together they really were just getting to know each other which is what caused a lot of the friction between them," Bryon said. "I suppose that they just haven't bothered to break the habit of arguing over every little thing, even though they've been mated 10 years."

Scott nodded and then told Bryon he couldn't wait to meet the rest of his family, which made Bryon beam with happiness because as much as his siblings annoyed him sometimes he really did love all of them and would give his life to save any of them just as they would do for him.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"Well, it's about time you two came up for air," Melodie teased her brother and his mate gently as Bryon and Scott had finally wondered downstairs after being basically incognito for two weeks. "We thought you would never come and see us."

"Just wait until you find your mate and see if you don't do the same," Bryon told his sister quite seriously radiating smugness and contentment. "Scotty and I were just a bit…busy."

Everybody else in the living room coughed at that for they all knew that Bryon and Scott had been fucking each other senseless, in-between feedings.

Bryon looked unperturbed at his family's reactions, but Scott looked a little embarrassed as he wasn't used to being open about his relationships with other men or the fact that he was gay. Bryon squeezed Scott's hand in reassurance and Scott did the same back to let Bryon know that he was okay, if a little embarrassed.

"By the way congratulations you two," Patrick added as he noticed the new mating marks on both his brother and his mate.

"Thanks," Scott said looking at Bryon's handsome brother. Patrick was quite handsome, but then the whole family was like that, Scott thought. Patrick though or any other male in the family for that matter didn't hold a candle to his Bryon at least in his humble opinion.

"Well, now that these two have come up for air, perhaps we can do something as a family," Bella suggested.

"Like what, mom? It isn't like Scotty can leave the house at the moment," said Bryon.

"Watch a movie?" Trevor suggested.

"Play a boardgame?" suggested Gabriel.

"Boardgames are out as Scotty would just crush the pieces into powder," said Bryon. "That kind of thing is just going to have to wait until Scott gets control of his strength."

"I can help you with that," Jasper suggested. "I have trained plenty of newborns in my time and I'm sure that Scotty will be no different."

"How did you two manage not to destroy the bed considering that Scott is extra strong at the moment?" asked Melodie curiously. "Even normal vampire strength is enough to destroy a bed if a vampire isn't paying attention to what they are doing."

"That's true," Bella commented not embarrassed in the least as she thought the bond between her and Jasper was a beautiful think and nothing to be shy about. "Jasper and I have destroyed more than our share of beds in the years we've been mated."

"It's reinforced," Bryon explained, "and even with the bed being extra durable we still put a few dents in it, but didn't destroy it, the mattress, however, did not survive very well and has lost most of it's stuffing."

"I say if Jasper can really teach me how to control my strength so I'm not always accidentally crushing doorknobs or other things I would be grateful," Scott said speaking for the first time.

"Wow!" Trevor exclaimed teasingly, "The man speaks. We thought your tongue had been cut out or something since you haven't said a word since you two emerged from your love nest."

"Trevor Malcolm Whitlock!" Bella said in a tone that Trevor knew had meant that he had gone to far with his comments. "You wouldn't be talking either if you were still trying to feel your way in the world you had almost literally fallen into. Scott, has barely met any of you and it is just going to take awhile before he feels comfortable enough to relax and join in."

Bryon shot his mother grateful look and Bella nodded in return.

"I'm sorry, Scott, its just that you have made my brother so happy that it seems like you've always been a part of the family."

"It's okay, I can take a little teasing," Scott assured Trevor. "I'm not going to take offense at every little thing, but Bella's right in a way and that is and I'm still trying to get used to the fact that not only are vampires real but that I am now one of them. I really didn't have much time to absorb the fact that vampires existed, before I went through my transformation."

"I never thought of it like that, but then I was born a vampire so I never thought about the fact that it might be hard to start believing in something that isn't supposed to exist," Trevor said looking contrite.

"I didn't have as hard a time believing as you think, simply because I'm originally from Scotland if you can't already tell from my accent, and there are plenty of legends about vampires in my homeland, so I had an easier time accepting that vampires existed then somebody who didn't have any legends to go by. Legends are often based on truth, even if that truth is distorted and changed over time. However there's a difference though in believing or knowing something is real and having time to really absorb it."

Trevor nodded conceding the point.

"You could have waited another month or two before you went through your transformation," Alanna suggested speaking for the first time.

Bryon shot his sister a look that said more clearly then words that no they couldn't have waited for the simple fact that both he and Scott would have exploded from the sexual tension if they had.

Alanna lowered her head after her brother's look and radiated embarrassment.

"By the way everyone Scotty and I have an announcement," Bryon began standing up and also pulling Scott to his feet. "Scott and I have decided that we are going to get married in the human fashion and we will of course want all our family to attend."

"Wow! Congratulations!" Bella exclaimed getting up to hug her son and Scott who was surprised at the gesture from Bryon's mother.

"So who is going to perform the ceremony?" Gabriel asked the practical question.

"Well, you do know that you can get credentials online as a priest," Bella suggested. "One of us can do that and perform the ceremony."

"It would be easier that way," Jasper agreed.

"What do you mean easier?" asked Scott looking confused, which wasn't surprising considering he had only known about the vampire world for a month and had only actually been part of that world for two weeks, so there were many things he still had to learn.

"Well, it's like this, Scott, if we were to do it the other more traditional way, we would have to find a priest that wasn't scared of us to perform the ceremony and that would be harder than you think, simply because most humans avoid us instinctively and if they are forced to interact with us it is usually clear that they would rather be anywhere else. Some humans don't seem to instinctively sense that we are predators and treat us just like anyone else, but they are few and far between," Jasper explained calmly. "Really it is only natural and the way things have always been as we are at the very top of the established food chain of this planet as almost nothing can hurt us, humans, animal predator and in fact the only thing that can is another one of our kind."

"I see," said Scott nodding in understanding. "So getting one of you certified so that you can legally perform the ceremony is the way to go?"

"Absolutely," Bella agreed. "One thing Jasper didn't bring up is the fact that if we keep this ceremony within the family we won't have to go to the trouble of setting up a reception in order to fool the priest, since we can't eat."

"We can have a dance though," Chloe suggested. "Invite Uncle Peter and his family."

"I can't get married without Uncle Peter and Aunt Charlotte and their children," Bryon said. "They have to be here. Besides I want them to meet Scotty and start to get to know him."

"Excuse me, who are Peter and Charlotte?" asked Scott.

"Peter and Charlotte, were the only two besides me to survive the Southern Wars," Jasper explained, telling Scott all about Maria and how he, Peter and Charlotte were the only three to survive the vicious fighting. "Peter and Charlotte are mates and took my last name, since Peter couldn't remember his after he was changed. Way back before I met Bella, they were the only two I trusted unconditionally as we had literally been through the wars together and survived. It is really thanks to Peter that I escaped Maria in the first place or found Bella at all thanks to his talent of sometimes knowing things that seem impossible to know and I will always be grateful to him because if not for him I would still be all alone."

"But you're not," Bella told Jasper taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.

"No, I'm not and I shall ever be thankful for it. In any case before Bella and I had Paddy, Gabe and Trev, Peter and Charlotte let it be known that they would love to have children of their own and we promised that if whatever children we had turned out normal and not uncontrollable vampire children that we would loan them the necklace so they could have their own. At that time Peter and Charlotte were the only ones either Bella and I trusted and in order for the Necklace of Artemis to work we had to trust the couple we were loaning it to absolutely."

"Yes, I remember Bryon telling me about that necklace, when I was human," said Scott. "I found it amazing then, as I do now, that not only did the Greek Gods and Goddess exist in Greece at one time, but that one of them had such a powerful artifact that allowed even a vampire to have children and that Artemis wanted to repay you for your kindness of fixing her shrine."

"Hey, if vampires can exist, who's to say other mythological beings can't be real as well," Patrick suggested.

"I never thought of it like that," Scott admitted, "but it makes you wonder what else that are considered legends or makebelieve are real as well."

Jasper, Bella and Bryon all exchanged looks all three beyond pleased that Scott seemed to be fitting in so well with the family.

"Who knows," said Bryon, "but maybe you and I can discover some of the truth behind the legends. After all we have forever."

"So back to the original subject of your wedding," Bella said. "We need to work out the details."

"Such as? Neither Scotty or I need anything complicated," Bryon said, Scott nodding vigorously in agreement.

"Just something simple, will do," Scott immediately agreed. "Bryon and I don't need all the fluff or the frills that females seem to require. No offence."

"None taken," all the females in the room responded.

"So something, simple, elegant, but meaningful and profound," said Bella her head already full of ideas.

"All the two of us need, really is someone to wed us legally and we don't need some priest or city magistrate looking down their long noses at us because we are both male," Bryon said.

"And that's even if we can find someone that isn't terrified of us in the first place," Scott added. "Why go to all the trouble of doing that if you don't have to? If finding a priest that wasn't terrified of us was our only option it would be one thing, but since you can go online and get certified for the priesthood why bother with the other option?"

"A good, point," Jasper agreed.

"You know it might be a good idea to have somebody who can perform marriages in the family," Alanna pointed out. "I mean eventually some of us are going to find our mates and if we have somebody to perform the wedding ceremony legally we won't have to go to the trouble of going to Vegas to get married like Brianna and Gerik did."

"Who's going to do it and get certified? And what happens when whoever does finds their own mate?" asked Gabriel.

"I'll do it," Bella decided suddenly. "I'm already mated so I won't have that problem."

"Way to go, mom," all of her children present cheered making Bella smile.

"That is an excellent idea," Jasper said as he gave his wife a kiss on the cheek for solving the problem.

"So when are you going to hold the ceremony?" asked Jasper.

"I don't know," Bryon said looking at Scott who looked back at him and shrugged. "We haven't decided on the date, but it will probably be at least a year from now so that Scott and I can go into town to a jeweler's to pick out wedding bands together."

"Why don't you just design your own wedding bands and then send the specifications to a jeweler," Bella suggested. "That way you won't have to have to go to town to pick out the wedding bands and if you design something yourself it will have more meaning then just ones you pick up from a glass case."

"That's not a bad idea and if we pick a reputable company like Tiffany's or Cartier they will do the work without taking any shortcuts," Bryon said.

"If we do that we could have the ceremony just as soon as a jeweler is done creating the bands. Maybe two or three months instead of a year like you were thinking?" suggested Scott, not even worrying about the cost as he knew that the entire family had money to burn considering they lived in a house that could almost be considered a palace and Scott knew that they had others all over the world. Not to mention the money they had put into several bank accounts for him and he knew they never would have given him so much if it had been anything but a drop in what was probably an endless bucket of cash.

"Yes that sounds about right and will allow us to contact the rest of the family and time for them to get here," Bryon said.

"I'll start planning," Bella said sounding excited.

"There shouldn't be all that much to plan, mom," Bryon protested. "We don't need to worry about a cater's for example."

"You and Scotty needs tuxes, you need to pick out a best man, the girls need dresses," Bella said ticking off everything that needed to be done on her fingers. "The men also need suits."

"What about bringing enough humans from town that we can have a feast not just Bryon and Scott but everybody, that could be our version of a human reception," Trevor suggested.

"That is an excellent idea," Jasper said like the idea enormously, "and if we make say a hundred humans disappear over a two or three month period, from all over the area I doubt it will even be noticed so long as we remember to go after those humans that will not be reported if they disappear, bums and the like."

"We'll have to make sure that we feed them," Scott said also liking the idea. "Put some nonperishable food items down in the cellar where we're keeping them and also dig a couple of latrines so that they can use the restroom when they have to. We don't want any of the humans to die on us beforehand and they will, unless we give them a few basic necessaries. Human beings really aren't very resilient unless they have proper nutrition and they could die in droves if we aren't careful to prevent disease and the like."

"You're right," Bella agreed and Jasper nodded also in agreement.

"Well let's get busy we have a lot to do," Alanna said. "We need to start calling everyone for example and the girls still need to go shopping for dresses."

"How am I going to get fitted for tux since I can't leave the house?" asked Scott curiously.

"That's easy," Bella said coming forward. "I'll simply take your measurements and go pick something out for you and Bryon, since I know he isn't going to want to leave your side for even a few hours to go do something like clothes shopping, even if it is for his own pending nuptials."

"You got that right, which reminds me," Bryon said, "Scotty needs some more clothes as he can't keep borrowing from Gavin. We did bring all his clothes from his apartment—not that he had very many—but he'll rip those to shreds in no time just learning to control his strength."

"Consider it taken care of," Bella said looking excited about shopping for somebody besides her and occasionally Jasper.

"Hey I don't need anything fancy," Scott sent speaking out in protest. "Just jeans and t-shirts will be just fine. Besides there's no point of buying me anything nice if I'm just going to rip it to shreds."

"I promise I won't go overboard," Bella told Scott with a wink.

"What Scotty and I consider overboard doesn't mean you have the same definition," Bryon told his mother.

"Don't you trust me?" asked Bella with a fake pout.

"In most things yes, but when it comes to my wardrobe or Scotty's for that matter, no," Bryon told his mother without an ounce of remorse or regret in his voice causing everybody in the room to laugh, even Bella.

"Thanks a lot," Bella told her son pretending to be offended.

"You're welcome," Bryon said with a wink in his mother's direction.

Everybody except Bella laughed and she just stuck out her tongue at her son.

All the family that was present in the den continued discussing ideas for Bryon and Scott's wedding and Jasper just sat back with his arm around his wife and enjoyed being in the middle of his family, which he never would have had if he and Bella hadn't gone to Greece all those years ago and discovered the shrine of Artemis. Jasper was thankful to Artemis for without her he wouldn't have his 21 children, his 4 nephews and 2 nieces and also 3 of his children's mates. In other words he wouldn't have any of his family, except Bella, Peter and Charlotte and while he would have been content and even happy with just them he was absolutely ecstatically happy to have so many children with the woman that he absolutely adored. To have those children began to find mates of their own made him even happier, as it meant that his family got larger and gave him other sons and daughters to love and also meant that the children that had found their mates went from being content to being with just their family to being complete just like Bella completed him.

And that was as it should be.


End file.
